Introduction
This post deals with comparisons in general and more specifically with comparisons of superiority in which the subject of comparison is and adjective or adverb.
SCENARIO
Imagine you are talking to a relative, a friend or a colleague. You come to talk about how busy some of your common friends/ acquaintances are. Mentioning the name of a common male friend, the other person says:: "tell me, is he busier than before?"
Dime,
¿está más ocupado que antes?
On the
other hand, he/ she could choose to be more formal and say:
Dígame,
¿está más ocupado que antes?
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 male friend is busier than before
- Your male friend is not busier than before
Here are a couple
of examples which deal with those choices:
- Sí, está más ocupado que antes* (yes, he is busier than before)
- No, no está más ocupado que antes* (no, he is not busier than before)
Now you should
practice answering the question:
Dime,
¿está más ocupado que antes?
*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 subject of comparison is and adjective or adverb
-see item 1 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 is a 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 antes (I am happier than before)
- 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:
- Mi hermano tiene más dinero que tú (my brother has more money than you)
- Hoy hemos comprado más comida que ayer (today we have bought more food than yesterday)
- Antonio tiene más amigos que tú (Antonio has more male friends than you)
- Tú tienes más amigas que Antonio (you have more female friends than Antonio)
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 half an hour's travel remaining)
Notes
Now you should
practise the use of comparisons of superiority with
some examples of your own.
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lessons
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