Introduction
This
post deals with comparisons in general and more specifically
with comparisons of superiority in which the subjects
of comparison are specific quantities or amounts of things.
SCENARIO
Imagine
you are talking to a relative, a friend or a colleague. You come to
talk about the ages of some of your common friends/ colleagues.
Mentioning the name of a common female friend, the other person
says:: "tell me, is she more than thirty years old?"
In
Spanish, the other person could choose to be less formal and say:
Dime,
¿tiene más de treinta años?
On the
other hand, he/ she could choose to be more formal and say:
Dígame,
¿tiene más de treinta años?
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 you want to
consider two basic options. i.e.:
- Your female friend is more than thirty years old
- Your female friend is not more than thirty years old
Here are a couple
of examples which deal with those choices:
- Sí, tiene más de treinta años* (yes, she is more than/ over thirty years old)
- No, no tiene más de treinta años* (no, she is not more than/ over thirty years old)
Now you should
practice answering the question:
Dime,
¿tiene más de treinta años?
*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 specific quantities or amounts
-see item 3 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 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 is a 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 is a 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)
Notes
Now you should practise the use of comparisons of superiority with some examples of your own.
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