Expressing Odest and Youngest Siblings by Using Specific Voccabulary

Question

Hola,

I have a homework question. I am working on a written assignment describing my family.

I have two brothers, one is 16, the other is 13. I am 23. I have searched this topic and found good answers. The tricky thing is that I am not allowed to use vocabulary not covered in the course thus far and only adjectives for describing age that I have at my disposal are joven and mayor. My question is how can I use these words to say "My oldest brothers name is Bill" and "My youngest brother's name is Jack"?

So far what I have is "Mi hermano mayor se llama Bill." and "Mi hermano joven se llama Jack." My concern is that I know mayor means old and joven means young, but can I use them in the sentence to mean oldEST and youngEST? Also, by saying "Mi hermano mayor se llama Bill." do I express that he is older than me or just older than my youngest brother?

Thank you for your time.

Edit: In order to give context to my question I posted the excerpt about my brothers below.

Hay cuatro personas en mi familia. Mi madre, mis dos hermanos más jovenes, y yo. Mi hermano mayor se llama Bill. Él tiene dieciséis años. Mi hermano joven se llama Jack. Él tiene trece años.

Welcome to SpanishDict. When you have a moment, please include your language proficiency in your profile. Thanks. - rac1, Feb 9, 2015

Nicely put question. - annierats, Feb 9, 2015

Actually, your teacher has given you a very hard task here. I look forward to native assistance. - annierats, Feb 9, 2015

Thank you. I just updated my profile now. I am currently one month into my first spanish course so I am definitely a beginner. - aceofspades991, Feb 9, 2015

Thank you so much. :) - rac1, Feb 9, 2015

Answer 1

Tengo dos hemanos más jovenes que yo //o tengo dos hermanos menores, el mayor de ellos se llama .. y mi hermano menor// pequeño se llama..// el nombre de mi hermano menor es.. Puedes decir tambien ' el benjamín' de tu hermano menor.

Thank you for your response. would it be incorrect to say 'Mis dos hermanos más jovenes." rather than using the word "tengo"? - aceofspades991, Feb 9, 2015

Also, is menor a conjugation of menos? Menos is a word that has been covered in the course, but i have not yet seen menor. - aceofspades991, Feb 9, 2015

No, ace, menor is not a conjugation of menos Please read my post for explanation :) - FELIZ77, Feb 9, 2015

Yes, quite a tricky one, Annie Good answer :) - FELIZ77, Feb 9, 2015

Yes, Mis dos hermanos menores se llaman Jack y Bill. - annierats, Feb 10, 2015

Answer 2

Hello Ace,

Welcome to the Spanish Dict forum

Mayor and menor are adjectives and so are not directly related to the word menos and are certianly not conjugations of any verb!.

I prefer to use these adjectives to describe the relationship between siblings of different ages: older and younger (respectively)

ex's: Juan es mayor que María. = John is older than Mary.

Eduardo es menor que Esteban = Edward is younger than Stephen.

José es el hermano mayor de Elisabeth y Elisabet es su hermana menor = Joseph is Elizabeth's older brother and Elizabeth is his younger sister.

You said/asked:

I have two brothers, one is 16, the other is 13. I am 23. I have searched this topic and found good answers. The tricky thing is that I am not allowed to use vocabulary not covered in the course thus far and only adjectives for describing age that I have at my disposal are joven and mayor. My question is how can I use these words to say "My oldest brothers name is Bill" and "My youngest brother's name is Jack"?

You could say: El mayor se llama Bill y el hermano joven se llama Jack

or El nombre del mayor es Bill y el nombre del joven se llama Jack

I personally would have preferred to have used the word menor instead of joven but since you have been instructed only to use certain words I suggest that you use the sentence above!

I hope this helps

Thanks, that very helpful. - aceofspades991, Feb 9, 2015

Feliz, would you not take out "se llama" if you're saying "el nombre del..."? In other words, wouldn't it be "el nombre del mayor es Bill"? - Winkfish, Feb 9, 2015

Good point, Wink, thank you very much :0 - FELIZ77, Feb 9, 2015

I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something. (Also, the same would apply to Jack, right?). ;-) - Winkfish, Feb 10, 2015

Thanks Feliz. . - annierats, Feb 10, 2015