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8.11: El superlativo

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  • Page ID
    113701

    • Erica Brown, Alejandra Escudero, María Cristina Montoya, & Elizabeth Small
    • SUNY Oneonta via OER SUNY
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    Objetivos

    • Use superlative expressions
    A sign in a supermarket advertising "Los yoghurts más frescos de Chile"
    “Los yoghurts más frescos de Chile.”

    The superlative is used to make a comparison between multiple items and it is used to stress a relationship of superiority between one item and the rest. In English, to form a superlative we usually add “-est” to an adjective. In Spanish, however, we’re going to start with an article and add “más” / “menos” before adjective to create the superlative.

    el/la/los/las + (noun) + más/menos + (adjective) + de…

    Some adjectives have irregular comparative forms which you saw when discussing comparisons of inequality. When applied to the superlative constructions they retain their irregular forms:

    definite article + irregular comparative form + de…

    Play Audiobueno → Play Audioel mejor (the best)
    Play Audiomalo → Play Audioel peor (the worst)
    Play Audiogrande → Play Audioel mayor (the oldest – people)
    Play Audiopequeño → el menor (the youngest – people)

    • Play AudioCuando los colegas coreanos salen a comer, el mayor paga. (When Korean colleagues go out to eat, the oldest pays.)
    • Play AudioMuchos europeos son trilingües, pero en general los africanos son los más multilingües del mundo. (Many Europeans are trilingual, but in general Africans are the most multilingual in the world.)

    Attributions

    CC licensed content, Original
    • Gramu00e1tica: El superlativo. Authored by: SUNY Oneonta with Lumen Learning. License: CC BY: Attribution
    Lumen Learning authored content

    This page titled 8.11: El superlativo is shared under a CC BY 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Erica Brown, Alejandra Escudero, María Cristina Montoya, & Elizabeth Small (OER SUNY) via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform; a detailed edit history is available upon request.