How do you say 'easiest' in Spanish?

Question

I can't find it in the dictionary.

Answer 1

"Easiest" is a superlative, that is why you cannot find it in the dictionary. You will only find the word "easy", the translation would be "el mas facil de todos " or "el mas facil"; You use a superlative when you are comparing, to express that some of them is the easiest over the rest of the group. Note:In spanish or italian they don't use superlatives as a unique word(like we do in english), since gender and noun make a difference in the article.

Many difficult words, english is not my language. In Polish gender makes a difference but we have superlatives as 'unique words'. Thanks again for the answers. - naddine, Dec 9, 2010

Neo, just to help you a grammatical correction: That some of them are easier than others or one of them is the easiest of them all :) There can be be many compartives eg bigger than - FELIZ77, Dec 9, 2010

but Only one superlative the biggest or it would not be the biggest , lol :) - FELIZ77, Dec 9, 2010

Answer 2

el más fácil o la más facil

Depending on the gender of what you are talking about.

thank you : ) - naddine, Dec 9, 2010

Answer 3

or lo más fácil

thank you too : ) - naddine, Dec 9, 2010

You're welcome - Dakie, Dec 9, 2010

Answer 4

I have read that the suffix -ísimo is an intensifier, not a superlative. Therefore "facilísimo" would mean "very easy" not the easiest.

See http://www.elearnspanishlanguage.com/grammar/intensifiers.html

You are talking about Spanish grammar with English terms. In Spanish those are called 'superlativos absolutos', whereas 'el más fácil' is a 'superlativo relativo'. And no, it doesn't mean 'very easy', it means 'the highest degree of easy', not just 'very' - bill1111, Dec 9, 2010

That is a new grammar term for me, thanks. - Rob_TPA, Dec 9, 2010

Answer 5

I don't understand what you mean with 'they don't use superlatives as a unique word'. There are plenty of unique words that are superlatives in Spanish, either derived from another adjective or as a completely different word. Depending on the degree of the superlative (absolute/relative) and even the distinction between formal and colloquial speech, you can have not one but several unique words for a superlative in Spanish. Conversely, many English words don't have a unique word for their superlative, and they can only be formed with 'most' ('most famous').

Easy / Easiest (superlative)

Fácil / Facilísimo (superlativo absoluto) / 'el más fácil' (superlativo relativo)

Famous / Most famous (superlative)

Célebre / Celebérrimo (superlativo absoluto, irregular al no acabar en -ísimo) / 'el más célebre' (superlativo relativo)

Good / Best (superlative)

Bueno / Buenísimo (superlativo absoluto usado hoy en día) / Bonísimo (superlativo absoluto obsoleto) / Óptimo (adjetivo superlativo por su significado) / 'el más bueno' (superlativo relativo cuando bueno significa 'bondadoso') / 'el mejor' (superlativo relativo en el resto de significados de bueno)

(edit) There, I changed the descriptions to reflect that I'm talking about Spanish Grammar (superlativo), not English one. But of course it is had to express Spanish grammar with English terms, simply because this particular category of Spanish superlatives (superlativos absolutos), doesn't even exist in English. When something is 'facilísimo', it doesn't mean that it is the easiest in a group, or 'very easy'. It means that it isn't possible to get any easier than that, it is as easy as it gets (thus: 'absoluto').