Introduction
This
post deals with comparisons in general and more specifically
with equality comparisons in which the subjects
of comparison are unspecific quantities/ numbers of things or
people.
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 as much patience as you?”
In
Spanish, the other person could choose to be less formal and say:
Dime,
¿tiene tanta paciencia como tú?
On the
other hand, he/ she could choose to be more formal and say:
Dígame,
¿tiene tanta paciencia como usted?
OUR
TIP
You don't need be
concerned about the degree of formality in what your relative/
friend/ colleague 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 two basic options, i.e.:
- Your female friend does have as much patience as you
- Your female friend doesn't have as much patience as you
Here are a couple
of examples which deal with those choices:
Sí, tiene tanta
paciencia como yo*
(yes, she does have as much patience as me)
No, no tiene
tanta paciencia
como yo* (no,
she doesn't have as much patience as me)
Now you should
practice answering the question:
Dime,
¿tiene tanta paciencia como 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
- Equality
This
post deals comparisons of equality where the subjects
of the comparison are quantities or amounts -see item 2
below. Other types of comparisons will be dealt with in separate
posts.
When
making comparisons of equality, there are two situations to consider:
1.-
Attributes/ Characteristics Comparisons
In
this type of comparison the subject of comparison is an adjective
or adverb, e.g.:
- as intelligent as... In Spanish: tan inteligente como...
Some
more examples of this type of comparison are:
- Estoy tan feliz como siempre (I am as happy as ever)
- Pedro no es tan guapo como dicen (Pedro is not as good looking as they say)
- Ana es tan guapa como dicen (Ana is as pretty as they say)
- No estáis tan mal como nosotros ( you people-plural are not in as bad a way as us)
- Luís y Ana son tan altos como los demás (Luis and Ana are as tall as the rest/ the others)
- Andamos tan deprisa como siempre (we are running around as frantically as always)
2.-
Quantities/ Amounts Comparisons
In
this is a type of comparisons the subjects of comparison are
unspecific quantities/ numbers of things or people (nouns),
e.g.:
- as much money as...
- as many friends as...
- as little money as...
- as few friends as...
Forms
of this type of comparisons in Spanish are:
- tanto* dinero como... (as much money as... - masculine noun)
- tanta* suerte como... (as much luck as... - feminine noun)
- tantos* amigos como... (as many friends -male as... - masculine noun)
- tantas* amigas como... (as many friends -female as... - feminine noun)
- tan poco* dinero como... (as little money as... - masculine noun)
- tan poca* suerte como... (as little luck as... - feminine noun)
- tan pocos* amigos como... (as few friends -male as... masculine noun)
- tan pocas* amigas como... (as few friends -female as... - feminine noun)
Some
examples of this type of comparison are:
- Mi hermano tiene tanto dinero como yo (my brother has as much money as me)
- Tienes tanta suerte como yo (you are as lucky as me)
- Antonio tiene tantos amigos como amigas (Antonio has as many male friends as female friends)
- Pedro tiene tantas amigas como amigos (Pedro has as many female friends as male friends)
- Mi hermano tiene tan poco dinero como yo (my brother has as little money as me)
- Tienes tan poca suerte como yo (you have as little luck as me)
- Antonio tiene tan pocos amigos como amigas (Antonio has as few male friends as female friends)
- Pedro tiene tan pocas amigas como amigos (Pedro has as few female friends as male friends)
Notes
Please
do not use
“tampoco” in
comparisons of this type as it is not the same as “tan
poco”.
Now you should
practise the use of comparison of equality with some
examples of your own.
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lessons
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by Jose M González. All Rights Reserved.
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