Introduction
This
post deals with comparisons in general and more specifically
with comparisons of superiority in which the subjects
of comparison are unspecific quantities or amounts of things.
SCENARIO
Imagine
you are talking to a relative, a friend or a colleague. You come to
talk about people who have a lot of patience. Mentioning the name of
a common female friend, the other person says: "tell me, does
she have more patience than you?"
In
Spanish, the other person could choose to be less formal and say:
Dime,
¿tiene más paciencia que tú?
On the
other hand, he/ she could choose to be more formal and say:
Dígame,
¿tiene más paciencia que usted?
OUR
TIP
You don't need be
concerned about the degree of formality in what the other person says
to you. Whether the other person uses a more/ less formal register
is irrelevant to most choices of reply.
Perhaps what you
want to consider are two basic options. i.e.:
- Your female friend does have more patience than you
- Your female friend doesn't have more patience than you
Here are a couple
of examples which deal with those choices:
- Sí, tiene más paciencia que yo* (yes, she does have more patience than me)
- No, no tiene más paciencia que yo* (no, she doesn't have more patience than me)
Now you should
practice answering the question:
Dime,
¿tiene más paciencia que tú?
*Please
see grammar topic below, comparisons
Grammar
– Comparisons
Basic
types of comparison to consider are:
- Comparisons of superiority, typically: more beautiful than...
- Comparisons of inferiority, typically: less beautiful than...
- Comparisons of equality, typically:
- as beautiful as...
- as much money as...
- as many people as...
Comparisons
- Superiority
This
post deals comparisons of superiority in which
the subjects of comparison are unspecific quantities or
amounts -see item 2 below. Other types of comparisons will be dealt
with in separate posts.
When
making comparisons of superiority, there are three
situations to consider:
1.-
Superior Characteristics Comparisons
In
this type of comparison the subject of comparison is an adjective
or adverb, e.g.:
- more intelligent than... In Spanish: más inteligente que...
- happier than... In Spanish: más feliz que...
- better than... In Spanish: mejor que...
Some
examples of this type of comparisons are:
- Estoy más feliz que nunca (I am happier than ever)
- Eres más inteligente que yo (you more intelligent than me)
- Pedro está más moreno que Antonio (Pedro is more suntanned than Antonio)
- Hoy andamos más deprisa que ayer (we are running around more frantically than yesterday)
- Mis amigos son más divertidos que los tuyos (my friends are more fun than yours)
- Este vino es mejor que el otro (this wine is better than the other one)
2.-
Higher Unspecific Quantities Comparisons
In
this type of comparisons the subjects of comparison are unspecific
quantities/ numbers of things or people (nouns), e.g.:
- more money than... In Spanish: más dinero que...
Some
examples of this type of comparisons are:
- Tú hermano tiene más dinero que tú (your brother has more money than you)
- Hoy hemos comprado más comida que ayer (today we have bought more food than yesterday)
- Tienes más amigos que Antonio (you have more male friends than Antonio)
- Antonio tiene más amigas que tú (Antonio has more female friends than you)
3.-
Higher Specific Numbers Comparisons
In
this type of comparisons the subjects of comparison are specific
quantities or amounts of things (nouns) e.g.:
- more than ten years... In Spanish: más de diez años...
Some
examples of this type of comparisons are:
- Yo llevaba más de £30 en el bolsillo (I had/ was carrying more than £30 in my pocket)
- Antonio tiene más de treinta años (Antonio is more than thirty years old)
- Os quedan más de dos días de vacaciones (you people-plural have more than two days left on your holidays)
- A Luis y Ana les queda más de media hora de viaje (Luis and Ana have more than than half an hour journey time left)
Notes
Now you should
practise the use of comparisons of superiority with
some examples of your own.
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lessons online
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lessons
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by Jose M González. All Rights Reserved.
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