Introduction
This
post deals with comparisons in general and more specifically
with comparisons of inferiority 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 don't have a lot of patience. Mentioning the
name of a common female friend, the other person says: "tell
me, does she have less patience than you?"
In
Spanish, the other person could choose to be less formal and say:
Dime,
¿tiene menos paciencia que tú?
On the
other hand, he/ she could choose to be more formal and say:
Dígame,
¿tiene menos 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 two basic options. i.e.:
- Your female friend does have less patience than you
- Your female friend doesn't have less patience than you
Here are a couple
of examples which deal with those choices:
- Sí, tiene menos paciencia que yo* (yes, she does have less patience than me)
- No, no tiene menos paciencia que yo* (no, she doesn't have less patience than me)
Now you should
practice answering the question:
Dime,
¿tiene menos 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
- Inferiority
This
post deals comparisons of inferiority 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 inferiority, there are three
situations to consider:
1.-
Inferior Characteristics Comparisons
In
this type of comparison the subject of comparison is an adjective
or adverb, e.g.:
- less intelligent than... in Spanish: menos inteligente que...
- worse than... in Spanish: peor que...
Some
examples of this type of comparisons are:
- Estoy menos feliz que antes (I am less happy than before)
- Soy menos inteligente que tú (I am less intelligent than you)
- Pedro está menos moreno que Antonio (Pedro is less suntanned than Antonio)
- Hoy andamos menos deprisa que ayer (we are running around less frantically than yesterday)
- Mis amigos son menos divertidos que los tuyos (my friends are less fun than yours)
- Este vino es peor que el otro (this wine is worse than the other one)
2.-
Less Unspecific Quantities Comparisons
In
this type of comparisons the subjects of comparison are unspecific
quantities/ numbers of things or people (nouns), e.g.:
- less money than... in Spanish: menos dinero que...
Some
examples of this type of comparisons are:
- Tú hermano tiene menos dinero que tú (your brother has less money than you)
- Hoy hemos comprado menos comida que ayer (today we have bought less food than yesterday)
- Tienes menos amigos que Antonio (you have less male friends than Antonio)
- Antonio tiene menos amigas que tú (Antonio has less female friends than you)
3.-
Lower Specific Numbers Comparisons
In
this type of comparisons the subjects of comparison are specific
quantities or amounts of things (nouns) e.g.:
- less than ten years... in Spanish: menos de diez años...
Some
examples of this type of comparisons are:
- Yo llevaba menos de £30 en el bolsillo (I had/ was carrying less than £30 in my pocket)
- Antonio tiene menos de treinta años (Antonio is less than thirty years old)
- Os quedan menos de dos días de vacaciones (you people-plural have less than two days left on your holidays)
- A Luis y Ana les queda menos de media hora de viaje (Luis and Ana have less than half an hour's travel)
Notes
See other posts dealing with comparisons. http://spanishtutor-onlinenet.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/COMPARISONS
Now you should
practise the use of comparisons of inferiority with
some examples of your own.
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lessons
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