In the beginner course you learned to describe one thing at a time. Now we put things side by side and link ideas together. Comparisons let you say what is bigger, better, or worse; superlatives crown the best and the worst; and relative clauses (the man who called, the book that I read) let you glue two short sentences into one smooth, adult-sounding thought. These are the tools that move your Spanish from lists to real description.
To say more than or less than, wrap your adjective, adverb, or noun in más … que or menos … que. The pattern never changes:
| Pattern | Example | English |
|---|---|---|
| más + adjective + que | Ana es más alta que Luis. | Ana is taller than Luis. |
| menos + adjective + que | Este café es menos fuerte que el otro. | This coffee is less strong than the other. |
| más + noun + que | Tengo más trabajo que tú. | I have more work than you. |
| verb + más que | Ella estudia más que yo. | She studies more than I do. |
Before a number, than becomes de, not que:
Hay más de cien personas aquí. — There are more than a hundred people here.
Four very common adjectives have their own comparative forms and skip más/menos:
| Adjective | Comparative | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| bueno (good) | mejor | better |
| malo (bad) | peor | worse |
| grande / viejo (age) | mayor | older |
| pequeño / joven (age) | menor | younger |
Mi hermana mayor cocina mejor que yo. — My older sister cooks better than I do.
To say two things are as … as each other, use tan … como with adjectives and adverbs, and tanto/a/os/as … como with nouns (where tanto agrees with the noun).
| Pattern | Example | English |
|---|---|---|
| tan + adjective + como | Este libro es tan interesante como el otro. | This book is as interesting as the other. |
| tanto/a + noun + como | No tengo tanto dinero como ella. | I don't have as much money as she does. |
| tantos/as + noun + como | Hay tantas sillas como invitados. | There are as many chairs as guests. |
| verb + tanto como | Trabajo tanto como tú. | I work as much as you. |
A superlative singles out one thing from a whole group. The formula is el/la/los/las + (noun) + más/menos + adjective + de. Notice that in a group is de, never en.
Es el restaurante más caro de la ciudad. — It's the most expensive restaurant in the city.
María es la estudiante menos tímida de la clase. — María is the least shy student in the class.
The irregular forms carry over: Es el mejor día de mi vida. — It's the best day of my life.
Add -ísimo/a to an adjective to mean extremely / very very, with no comparison at all. Drop a final vowel first: caro → carísimo (extremely expensive), fácil → facilísimo, mucho → muchísimo. It's expressive and everywhere in speech: La película fue larguísima. — The film was super long.
A relative clause adds information about a noun already mentioned. The workhorse is que — it covers both that, which, and who, for people and things alike, and unlike English it can never be dropped.
| Relative | Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| que | things & people; subject or object | El tren que llega a las ocho es rápido. — The train that arrives at eight is fast. |
| quien / quienes | people, after a preposition or in commas | La mujer con quien hablé es médica. — The woman I spoke with is a doctor. |
| el que / la que | clarifies gender/number, esp. after prepositions | La casa en la que vivo es vieja. — The house I live in is old. |
| lo que | refers to a whole idea, not a noun | No entiendo lo que dices. — I don't understand what you're saying. |
English happily drops the relative: the book I read. Spanish never does — you must keep que: el libro que leí. Leaving it out is one of the most common English-speaker mistakes, so train your ear to expect that little que in the middle of the sentence.
Complete each sentence, then read it aloud:
Answers: más … que; tan … como; del.
Combine each pair with que, quien, or lo que:
Spanish speakers reach for -ísimo and warm exaggeration far more than English speakers do. A meal isn't just good, it's buenísima; a friend isn't just kind, they're amabilísimo. Using these forms doesn't sound over-the-top in Spanish — it sounds friendly and engaged. Lean into them and your speech will feel more natural and expressive.