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The Superlative in Spanish Posted by on Apr 11, 2012 in Spanish Grammar

There are two kinds of superlative in Spanish: relative and absolute. The relative superlative describes a noun within a context of a larger group. Some examples in English:

Juan is the tallest kid in his classroom.
María is the smartest student in the whole school.
This is the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.

We form the relative superlative with the following model:

Subject + verb + el/la/los/las + más + adjective.

Here’s how the sentences above are in Spanish:

Juan is the tallest kid in his classroom. = Juan es el niño más alto en su aula.
María is the smartest student in the whole school. = María es la alumna más inteligente en la escuela entera.
This is the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. = Ésta es la mujer más bonita que ya he conocido.

The absolute superlative does not show the noun within a context of a larger group. Rather, it emphasizes the quality of the noun. Some examples:

She’s extremely talented.
He’s a very smart boy.
This good is unbelievably good!

In English we form the absolute superlative with an intensifying adverb (extremely, very, awfully, unbelievably) + adjective. In Spanish we put the endings ísimo(s) and ísima(s). In Spanish, prefer to use the ísimo(s) and ísima(s) endings rather than use intensifying adverbs.

She’s extremely talented. = Ella es talentosísima.
He’s a very smart boy. = Es un niño listísimo.
This food is unbelievably good. = Esta comida es riquísima.

And this is not all! In informal Spanish we also have prefixes re-, -que, super-, archi-. Check out some examples:

Mi amigo Juan Antonio es resimpático. = My friend Juan Antonio is extremely friendly. (We could also use retesimpático, requetesimpático, supersimpático, etc.)
Mi abuela era una mujer rebuena. = My grandma was a very good woman.
Lo hiciste requete mal. Tendrás que hacerlo de nuevo. = You did that very poorly. You’ll have to do it again.
Nos trataron rebien cuando fuimos a visitarlos. = They treated us extremely well when we went to visit them.

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About the Author: Adir

English / Spanish teacher and translator for over 20 years. I have been blogging since 2007 and I am also a professional singer in my spare time.