Comparisons of Inequality in Spanish – Learn and Practice

Welcome 😊 to our grammar lesson on comparisons of inequality in Spanish.

Comparisons of inequality are those where two things or people are unequal in some way. Sentences like “The tree is taller than the flower”, or “Laura has less money than Juan” are comparisons of inequality.

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to make these comparisons in Spanish with the formulas más que and menos que.

You will also find a Quiz and an Exercise to practice.

Comparisons with “más que”

más que means “more… than…”.

Yo corro más que tú.
I run more than you.

Ana tiene más amigos que Laura.
Ana has more friends than Laura.

Superman es más poderoso que Batman.
Superman is more powerful than Batman.

In general (with a few exceptions that we will study next) we don’t say “taller than”: we say “more tall than”, etc:

Mario is taller than Gonzalo → “Mario is more tall than Gonzalo” → Mario es más alto que Gonzalo.

My car is faster than yours → “My car is more fast than yours” → Mi coche es más rápido que el tuyo.

Exceptions

There are a few adjectives that have a special comparative form.

The most important ones are: 

• mejor = better         (Plural: mejores)
• peor = worse          (Plural: peores)
• mayor = older         (Plural: mayores)
• menor = younger    (Plural: menores)

For these few adjectives, we don’t include the word “más” in our comparisons:

Estos libros son mejores que estos cómics.
These books are better than these comics.

La piscina es peor que la playa.
The pool is worse than the beach.

Mis hermanos son mayores que yo.
My brothers are older than me.

Ana es menor que Laura.
Ana is younger than Laura.

Comparisons with “menos que”

menos que means “less… than…”.

Pablo fuma menos que Luis.
Pablo smokes less than Luis.

Ellos ganan menos dinero que nosotros.
They earn less money than we do.

Matemáticas es menos difícil que Química.
Math is less difficult than Chemistry.

Practice

Quiz

Take this short Quiz about comparisons of inequality:

Exercise 1

Fill the gaps with the necessary words to make comparisons of inequality. Click on the gray spaces to see the solutions:

1) La falda es más oscura que la blusa.
The skirt is darker than the blouse.

2) Los gatos son más rápidos que los perros.
Cats are faster than dogs.

3) Los gatos son mejores que los perros.
Cats are better than dogs.

4) Nosotros somos más guapos que vosotros.
We are more handsome than you guys.

Exercise 2

More sentences!:

5) Clara es mayor que Laura.
Clara is older than Laura.

6) Pablo bebe menos que Alberto.
Pablo drinks less than Alberto.

7) Yo soy menos inteligente que tú.
I am less intelligent than you.