The superlative: el más, -ísimo and mejor
The course already knows the comparative: más caro que, menos caro que. The superlative is made out of it by adding the article, and by nothing else: el más caro, la más cara, los más caros. There is no separate ending to rival the English '-est'. For example: “Es el mejor cirujano del hospital” — He is the best surgeon in the hospital. A rule from the Spanish course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a…
How it works
The course already knows the comparative: más caro que, menos caro que. The superlative is made out of it by adding the article, and by nothing else: el más caro, la más cara, los más caros. There is no separate ending to rival the English '-est'.
The trap is single but large: 'in' after a superlative is de, not en and not entre. El mejor hospital de la ciudad — 'the best hospital in the city'. The English 'in' misleads here.
If the noun has already been named, the article stays and the word disappears: de todos los síntomas, el peor es la fiebre — 'of all the symptoms, the worst is the fever'.
Four adjectives make their degrees not by the rule, and they must be known on sight: bueno → mejor → el mejor, malo → peor → el peor, grande → mayor, pequeño → menor. About sheer size a Spaniard will still say más grande, keeping mayor for age and importance: mi hermano mayor, la mayor parte.
There is also a second superlative — the absolute one, with no comparison at all. It means 'very, very' and is built with the ending -ísimo: carísimo, malísimo, guapísima. The final vowel drops off, and the consonant sometimes changes too: rico → riquísimo, largo → larguísimo, feliz → felicísimo. The difference from muy is not strength but tone: muy caro is information, carísimo is indignation. In colloquial Spain you hear the second more often.
Table
| adjective | comparative | superlative | absolute |
|---|---|---|---|
| caro | más caro que | el más caro de | carísimo |
| bueno | mejor que | el mejor de | buenísimo |
| malo | peor que | el peor de | malísimo |
| grande | mayor que | el mayor de | grandísimo |
| pequeño | menor que | el menor de | pequeñísimo |
| largo | más largo que | el más largo de | larguísimo |
By example
- Es el mejor cirujano del hospitalHe is the best surgeon in the hospital
- De todos los síntomas, el peor es el dolor de cabezaOf all the symptoms, the worst is the headache
- La espera en urgencias fue larguísimaThe wait in the emergency room was incredibly long
How the rule settles in your head
A rule is not memorized from an explanation. It is memorized from an attempt to use it and a mistake — that is why the app delivers it mixed in with words, not as a separate lesson: it resurfaces exactly where you forgot it.
Frequently asked
El más caro vs carísimo?
The course already knows the comparative: más caro que, menos caro que. The superlative is made out of it by adding the article, and by nothing else: el más caro, la más cara, los más caros. There is no separate ending to rival the English '-est'.
Más grande vs mayor?
The trap is single but large: 'in' after a superlative is de, not en and not entre. El mejor hospital de la ciudad — 'the best hospital in the city'. The English 'in' misleads here.
What -ísimo means in Spanish?
If the noun has already been named, the article stays and the word disappears: de todos los síntomas, el peor es la fiebre — 'of all the symptoms, the worst is the fever'.
El mejor de or el mejor en?
Four adjectives make their degrees not by the rule, and they must be known on sight: bueno → mejor → el mejor, malo → peor → el peor, grande → mayor, pequeño → menor. About sheer size a Spaniard will still say más grande, keeping mayor for age and importance: mi hermano mayor, la mayor parte.
Muy caro or carísimo?
There is also a second superlative — the absolute one, with no comparison at all. It means 'very, very' and is built with the ending -ísimo: carísimo, malísimo, guapísima. The final vowel drops off, and the consonant sometimes changes too: rico → riquísimo, largo → larguísimo, feliz → felicísimo.…
What does it look like in an example sentence Spanish?
“Es el mejor cirujano del hospital” — He is the best surgeon in the hospital. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.