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Spanish Absolute Superlatives Explained

This document discusses how to form and use superlatives in Spanish. There are two types of superlatives: relative, which compares within a group and uses "más/menos de", and absolute, which has three forms - "muy", "sumamente", and adding "-ísimo". Irregular superlatives include "bueno/mejor/el mejor", "malo/peor/el peor", "grande/mayor/el mayor", and "pequeño/menor/el menor". Superlatives indicate the highest level of a quality and are formed differently in Spanish than in English.

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239 views3 pages

Spanish Absolute Superlatives Explained

This document discusses how to form and use superlatives in Spanish. There are two types of superlatives: relative, which compares within a group and uses "más/menos de", and absolute, which has three forms - "muy", "sumamente", and adding "-ísimo". Irregular superlatives include "bueno/mejor/el mejor", "malo/peor/el peor", "grande/mayor/el mayor", and "pequeño/menor/el menor". Superlatives indicate the highest level of a quality and are formed differently in Spanish than in English.

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ALMEREISA7
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Superlatives

Superlatives are used to indicate that something has the most of a particular quality, as
can be done with the English suffix "-est." They are formed in Spanish much like above,
except that the definite article is also used, as in these examples:

 Él es el más guapo. He is the handsomest.


 Él es el menos guapo. He is the least handsome.
 Ella es la más inteligente. She is the most intelligent.
 Ella es la menos inteligente. She is the least intelligent.

There are two types of superlative:

1) RELATIVE: describes a noun within the context of some larger group. In


Spanish, the relative superlative construction is similar to the comparative.

definite article + noun + más (menos) + adjective + de

Examples:

 Juan es el chico más inteligente de la clase.


 John is the smartest boy in the class.

Just like in English, the noun can be omitted. All of the following are correct.

 María es la chica más delgada de la clase.


 Mary is the thinnest girl in the class.

 María es la más delgada de la clase.

 Mary is the thinnest in the class.

2) ABSOLUTE: for adjectives has three possible forms

 muy + adjective

 sumamente + adjective
 adjective + ísimo (-a, -os, -as)

The following translations are somewhat arbitrary. Each superlative statement is a little
stronger than the one that precedes it.

 muy guapo = very handsome


 sumamente guapo = extremely handsome

 guapísimo = indescribably handsome

 altísima = extremely tall

# The most common irregular comparatives and superlatives are those involving
bueno (good) and malo (bad). The comparative and superlative forms are mejor and
peor, respectively:

 Este coche es bueno. This car is good.


 Este coche es mejor. This car is better.

 Este coche es el mejor. This car is the best.

 Esta casa es mala.This house is bad.

 Esta casa es peor. This house is worse.

 Esta casa es la peor. This house is the worst.

# The forms mayor and menor can also be used as irregular comparatives and
superlatives when referring to age:

 Pablo es viejo. Pablo is old.


 Pablo es mayor que su hermano. My father is older than his brother.

 Pablo es el mayor de su familia. My father is the oldest in his family.

 Katrina es joven. Katrina is young.

 Katrina es menor que su hermana. Katrina is younger than her sister.

 Katrina es la menor de su familia. Katrina is the youngest in her family.

bueno el mejor
malo el peor
Irregular Superlatives:
grande
el mayor Note that, superlatives are followed by de:
viejo

pequeño
el menor
joven
 Soy la mayor de la famiilia.

Adjectivos with -ísimo:


Sometimes an adjective ending in –ísimo has a superlative connotation. More often,
though, the –ísimo ending simply means very… or extremely…

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