Spanish grammar · interactive
Spanish Comparatives and Superlatives
Más que, tan como, mejor, -ísimo — everything you need to compare things in Spanish, drilled in real sentences with instant feedback.
These exercises cover Spanish comparatives and superlatives — how to say something is bigger, better, the best, or just as good. You’ll build each comparison in a real sentence and see the rule behind every answer.
The short version: más/menos + adjective + que compares unequal things, tan + adjective + como compares equal things, el/la más + adjective + de picks the extreme of a group — and bueno, malo, viejo, and joven have irregular one-word comparatives: mejor, peor, mayor, menor.
Try the comparatives exercise
Choose the word that builds the comparison. You’ll see why after each answer.
Mi casa es grande que la tuya.
My house is bigger than yours.
How it works
- 1
Read the sentence
A real Spanish comparison appears with one piece blanked out.
- 2
Build the comparison
Pick the connector or form that fits — más, como, mejor, del. Instant feedback.
- 3
Learn the why
Each answer explains the structure, so you stop translating word-for-word from English.
What you’ll learn
- The three core frames: más…que, menos…que, tan…como
- The four irregulars — mejor, peor, mayor, menor — and when más grande is wrong
- Superlatives with el más…de (not ‘en’)
- The -ísimo intensifier and why ‘muy buenísimo’ doesn’t exist
Three frames cover almost everything
Spanish comparison is more regular than English. Where English juggles ‘-er’, ‘more’, and irregulars like ‘better’, Spanish has one productive frame for inequality — más (or menos) + adjective + que — that works with virtually every adjective: más rápido que, menos caro que. Equality has its own locked pair, tan + adjective + como, and for quantities of nouns it becomes tanto/tanta/tantos/tantas + noun + como, agreeing with the noun: tantos libros como tú.
The superlative is just the comparative with a definite article in front and de framing the group: el estudiante más trabajador de la clase. That de is the classic English-interference error — learners write ‘en la clase’ because English says ‘in the class’. Spanish always uses de there.
The irregular four — and -ísimo
Four adjectives replace the más + adjective frame entirely: bueno → mejor, malo → peor, and for age, viejo → mayor, joven → menor. Saying ‘más bueno’ to mean higher quality is the mistake every Spanish teacher corrects first — mejor already means ‘more good’, so adding más would double it. Mayor and menor are the polite way to compare people’s ages; reserve más grande and más pequeño for physical size.
Then there’s the absolute superlative -ísimo, which doesn’t compare at all — it intensifies: cansadísimo (exhausted), carísimo (super expensive), buenísimo (really great). It replaces the adjective’s final vowel and then agrees normally (buenísima, buenísimos). Because it already means ‘extremely’, it never takes muy — ‘muy carísimo’ is redundant the way ‘very extremely expensive’ is in English.
Quick reference
| Structure | Meaning · example |
|---|---|
| más + adj. + que | more…than · más alto que yo |
| menos + adj. + que | less…than · menos caro que este |
| tan + adj. + como | as…as · tan rápido como tú |
| el/la más + adj. + de | the most…in · el más alto de la clase |
| mejor · peor · mayor · menor | better · worse · older · younger (irregulars) |
Frequently asked questions
How do you say ‘better’ in Spanish?
Mejor. It’s the irregular comparative of bueno, so you never say ‘más bueno’ for quality: Este café es mejor que el otro. The superlative is el/la mejor — ‘the best’.
What’s the difference between mayor and más grande?
Mayor compares age (Mi hermana es mayor que yo — my sister is older); más grande compares physical size (Esta casa es más grande — this house is bigger). Using más viejo for people can sound impolite.
How do you form the superlative in Spanish?
Put the definite article before the comparative and frame the group with de: la ciudad más bonita del país — ‘the prettiest city in the country’. Note it’s de, not en, even though English says ‘in’.
What does -ísimo mean in Spanish?
It’s an intensifier meaning ‘extremely’: carísimo = extremely expensive, buenísimo = really great. It replaces the adjective’s final vowel, agrees in gender and number, and never combines with muy.
Compare like a native
Knowing the frames is step one; producing them at speed is what fluency feels like. HablaCore drills comparatives and superlatives in real AI-generated sentences with instant feedback on every answer.
Practice comparatives in real sentences