ÍSIMO in Spanish – Learn to Form Superlatives!

Welcome to our grammar lesson about Spanish superlatives with the ending -ísimo (and other similar endings).

Attaching certain suffixes at the end of an adjective is a way of expressing that adjective to an extreme degree, making it a superlative adjective.

For example, look at this transformation:

• grande = big
• grandísimo = very very big, extremely big

Most adjectives form their superlative by attaching the ending -ísimo, but some adjectives attach other suffixes.

We will learn them all in this lesson, providing examples.

At the end you’ll find a Quiz and an Exercise for practice.

Suffixes for superlatives

-ísimo

Most adjectives form their superlative by attaching -ísimo.

Just apply one of these 2 formulas:

• If the original adjective ends in a consonant, simply attach -ísimo at the end. Pay attention to possible consonant transformations, such as “z” becoming “c” :

Base Form	Superlative
débil weak	debilísimo
fácil easy	facilísimo
difícil difficult	dificilísimo
feliz happy	felicísimo

• If the original adjective ends in a vowel, first remove that vowel, then attach -ísimo. Again, pay attention to possible consonant transformations:

Base Form	Superlative
barato cheap	baratísimo
caro expensive	carísimo
grande big	grandísimo
guapo handsome	guapísimo
viejo old	viejísimo
blanco white	blanquísimo
largo long	larguísimo
fresco fresh	fresquísimo
rico rich/tasty	riquísimo

-císimo

Adjectives whose masculine singular form ends in “-n” or “-or”, usually form their superlative by adding -císimo:

Base Form	Superlative
joven young	jovencísimo
mayor old	mayorcísimo
hablador talkative	habladorcísimo
inferior inferior	inferiorcísimo
superior superior	superiorcísimo

-bilísimo

Adjectives ending in “-ble” form their superlative by replacing that final “-ble” for -bilísimo.

Base Form	Superlative
amable nice	amabilísimo
agradable nice	agradabilísimo
notable prominent	notabilísimo
rentable profitable	rentabilísimo
miserable miserable	miserabilísimo
estable stable	estabilísimo
probable probable, likely	probabilísimo

-érrimo

Some adjectives whose last syllable contains the letter “r”, add the ending -érrimo in the following manner:

Base Form	Superlative
libre free	libérrimo
célebre famous	celebérrimo
acre bitter	acérrimo
salubre healthy	salubérrimo

Superlatives with an irregular stem

Some adjectives have a change in the stem when they form the superlative, apart from attaching one of the suffixes.

Here are some examples:

Base Form	Superlative
fuerte strong	fortísimo
sabio wise	sapientísimo
antiguo old	antiquísimo
fiel loyal	fidelísimo
ardiente ardent	ardentísimo
caliente hot	calentísimo
pobre poor	paupérrimo

Accent marks

All superlatives have an accent mark on the attached suffix.

If the original adjective already had an accent mark, it loses it in the superlative form.

For example, “fácil” becomes “facilísimo“. It loses its original accent mark, and shows the one on the suffix.

Feminine and plural forms

When we use a superlative adjective in a sentence, we need to match its gender and number to the noun it is connected with.

For example, following the process explained in this lesson, we get that the superlative for “grande” is “grandísimo“. Now we can change its gender and number, resulting in these 4 forms:

masculine singular	grandísimo
feminine singular	grandísima
masculine plural	grandísimos
feminine plural	grandísimas

Example Sentences

The following sentences include superlatives.

Notice how they match the gender and number of the noun:

El coche es carísimo.
The car is extremely expensive.

Mi perra es grandísima.
My female dog is extremely big.

Los estudiantes son amabilísimos.
The students are extremely nice.

Las chicas son celebérrimas.
The girls are extremely famous.

Practice

Quiz

Take this Quiz to test your knowledge about superlatives:

Exercise

Now we are going to practice with sentences that include superlatives.

A child likes to brag about how impressive all his stuff is. Fill the gaps making superlatives of the words in brackets:

1) Tengo una bicicleta ___ (bueno).
I have a very very good bike.

2) Mis padres la compraron, ellos son ___ (rico).
My parents bought it, they are super rich.

3) Tienen un coche ___ (grande) y ___ (caro).
They have a very very big and expensive car.

4) Mirad, una foto de mi madre. Ella es ___ (joven).
Look, a picture of my mom. She’s super young.

5) Además, es ___ (amable).
Plus, she is extremely nice.

6) Si venís a mi casa, seguro que prepara unos dulces ___ (sabroso).
If you come to my house, surely she prepares some super tasty sweets.

Solutions:
1) buenísima
2) riquísimos
3) grandísimo, carísimo
4) jovencísima
5) amabilísima
6) sabrosísimos

Another type of superlative: with “más” and “menos”

There is another grammar construction in Spanish we also call superlative.

It is when we express that something is “the most ___” or “the least ___”.

We explain that in a separate lesson: Spanish superlatives with “más” and “menos”

Here are two examples of this different type of superlative:

Este coche es el más moderno.
This car is the most modern.

Ana es la menos alta de nuestra clase.
Ana is the least tall in our class.