Differences between comparative and superlative phrases?

Question

How do I determine what's comparative and superlative? My textbook is horrible; it won't state which phrases like "el + noun + mas/menos + adjective" OR "mas + (adverb) + que" OR "menos + (adverb) + que" mean. Which phrase should I use to compare between two things, like

She is smarter than her.

She is the smartest in the class.

She is as smart as him.

She studies as slowly as him.

Help me please! I will vote for each answer I get (that would help me in some way)! [:

Answer 1

And secondly, I don't know how to differentiate two She's (Ella)s in Spanish, but, if we could use Maria y Linda Maria es más inteligente que ella.

For this type of sentence, we would say "Entre las dos, María es la más inteligente" or "María es la más inteligente de las dos."

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About ending personal pronouns in comparative sentences in English, an easy way to determine "she" or "her" "he" or "him" is to simply continue the sentence after the ending personal pronoun, ie: "She is smarter than him." "She is smarter than him is," or "She is smarter than he is." Obviously "him" cannot do anything, only "he" can do something. This tells you that "he" is the correct personal pronoun.

But don´t feel bad about this sort of thing. English is a very difficult language - even for natives.

Thanks for that explanation. Very helpful. Multiple pronouns is slightly ahead of where I am right now. Muchas gracias. - rogspax, May 7, 2012

Thanks! [: - heyitscindyxo, May 13, 2012

Answer 2

I feel you. It was pretty **** weak in my textbook this semester too. As such, I have a limited amount to offer, but will try, since I"m studying for an exam tomorrow at this very moment, and one covering the same material.

First, though we say it, ¨She is smarter than her¨ is actually not correct English, (both feminine personal pronouns should be the subject in a comparison, just as one has to say He and I, not He and me) so it's not a good starting point. And secondly, I don't know how to differentiate two She's (Ella)s in Spanish, but, if we could use Maria y Linda Maria es más inteligente que ella. Or Ella es más inteligente que Linda

Ella es la niña (persona, mujer, ...) más intelligente en la clase.

Ella es tan inteligente como él. (or if it was a thing done as well) Ella nada tan bien (or rápido) que él (or if it was a thing they had the same amount of) Ella tiene tanto dinero como él) in OK I have a dodgy internet signal as I drive down the road (well, actually, as my teamate drives) so I¨m going to send this first part before I lose it. I´ll write more after we stop at a reststop and I can look at my equally crappy textbook again.

Also, I´m a newb, so corrections to my help are not only welcome, but actively solicited

Either way, this helps me study too.

Es bueno para nosotros dos, verdad?

Nice, but I personally am offended by your correction of my English. - heyitscindyxo, May 6, 2012

Sorry about that. The point was, if you start out trying to get a correct Spanish phrase, it is very difficult if the input English phrase is not right. We all do things in our native languages that need work too, and they sometimes interfere ... - rogspax, May 6, 2012

... with our foreign language acquisition. - rogspax, May 6, 2012

Okay then, well I'll take your explanations into contemplation and see if I can apply it in any worksheet exercises. - heyitscindyxo, May 7, 2012

Answer 3

Oh yes, and if it´s a number, then ´de´ is used instead of ´que´

She has more than two. Ella tiene más de dos.

Okies, thanks! - heyitscindyxo, May 13, 2012

Answer 4

Ella estudia tan despacio como él.

Personally my class only introduced comparisons of equality and inequality, but not superlatives, so since I wanted to know that, I had to read into the 2nd half of our text, AND, look at the lessons here in Spanishdict.com. They have relevant lessons in the Spanish courses,and also one section each for all 3 of those topics, plus review quizzes for them, in the grammar section. Definitely worth a look.

In short, for comparisons of inequality, you´ll be using (más-menos) qué and for comparisons of equality, using tan como (adjectives and adverbs), or tanto como (nouns or verbs)

hth