Superlatives

You just finished doing comparatives. Now youre going to do superlatives. In English, we have what we call the positive form, tall gorgeous the comparative form, taller more gorgeous and the superlative form. tallest most gorgeous Spanish doesnt have that, exactly, but if you just think of ms as meaning both more AND most, both the comparative and superlative are very similar to English.

The comparative is for when youre talking about two people or things: Addison is more beautiful than Meredith. Addison es ms hermosa que Meredith.

The superlative is for when youre talking about three or more people or things: Addison is the most beautiful of all. Addison es la ms hermosa de todas.

As you can see, if you use most rather than -est (which, like -er, doesnt exist in Spanish), the word order is identical to English: Addison is the most beautiful of all. Addison es la ms hermosa de todas. However, you need to note that if you put a noun in the superlative expression, it will come BEFORE ms + adjective. Addison is the most beautiful woman of all. Addison es la mujer ms hermosa de todas.

But that should be no surprise, since, as you learned in chapter 2, adjectives normally come after the noun they describe:
noun adjective

Addison es una mujer hermosa.

Click here to go to a brief practice exercise. When youre done with the first one (theres only one problem per page), click on the arrow to go to the next. There are five problems total.

That was superlatives for dummies. Click here to go to a more challenging exercise.

OK, one more thing. You dont have a problem with

Addison es la ms hermosa de todas.

But what about

Addison es la ms hermosa del mundo.

Literally, that translates

Addison is the most beautiful OF the world.

We, of course, would say

Addison is the most beautiful IN the world.

But in Spanish, you have to say de: Juan es el hombre ms alto de la ciudad. Juan is the tallest man in the city. Elisa es la ms bonita de la clase. Elisa is the prettiest in the class.

Antonio y Carlos son los ms gordos de Georgia. Antonio and Carlos are the fattest in Georgia.

So there are three (little) things that make the superlative in Spanish different from the superlative in English: 1. The fact that you always have to use most and not something like -est that you can put on the end of the adjective:

Bill Gates es el ms rico de nuestro pas. Bill Gates is the richest in our country.
2. The fact that you have to put the noun BEFORE ms + adjective: Bill Gates es el hombre ms rico de nuestro pas. Bill Gates is the richest man in our country. 3. The fact that you have to say de in Spanish where we usually say in in English: Bill Gates es el ms rico de nuestro pas. Bill Gates is the richest in our country.

Watch out for the irregulars!

Remember mejor, peor, mayor, menor? Since they mean better, worse, older, younger, they also mean best, worst, oldest, youngest. Juan es el mejor estudiante de la clase. Juan is the best student in the class. Juan es el peor estudiante de la clase. Juan is the worst student in the class. Juan es el mayor estudiante de la clase. Juan is the oldest student in the class. Juan es el menor estudiante de la clase. Juan is the youngest student in the class.

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