Spanish -ÍSIMO ending for superlative adjectives

Welcome to our grammar lesson about Spanish superlatives with endings like -ísimo.

Attaching certain suffixes at the end of an adjective is a way to express 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 two formulas:

• If the 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	Meaning: "extremely..."
débil	debilísimo	weak
fácil	facilísimo	easy
difícil	dificilísimo	difficult
feliz	felicísimo	happy

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

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

-císimo

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

Base Form	Superlative	Meaning: "extremely..."
joven	jovencísimo	young
mayor	mayorcísimo	old
hablador	habladorcísimo	talkative
inferior	inferiorcísimo	inferior
superior	superiorcísimo	superior

-bilísimo

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

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

-érrimo

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

Base Form	Superlative	Meaning: "extremely..."
libre	libérrimo	free
célebre	celebérrimo	famous
acre	acérrimo	bitter
salubre	salubérrimo	healthy

Superlatives with an irregular stem

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

Here are some examples:

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

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 adds the one on the attached 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 superlative adjectives with suffixes like -ísimo:

Exercise

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

A child likes to brag about how cool his stuff is: his bike, his mom… Fill the gaps making superlatives of the words in brackets:

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

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

Tienen un coche ___ 3. (grande) y ___ 4. (caro).
They have a very very big and expensive car.

Mirad, una foto de mi madre. Ella es ___ 5. (joven).
Look, a picture of my mom. She’s super young.

Además, es ___ 6.(amable).
Plus, she is extremely nice.

Si venís a mi casa, seguro que prepara unos dulces ___ 7.(sabroso).
If you come to my house, surely she prepares some super tasty sweets.

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

Another type of superlatives: 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 __”, when comparing it with other things.

We have explained that construction in a separate lesson: Spanish superlatives with “más” and “menos”

Here are two examples of this different kind of superlative:

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

Ana es la menos inteligente de nuestra clase.
Ana is the least intelligent in our class.