Spanish superlatives are words, phrases or structures that stand out when a subject is at the top or at the bottom of a group.
Relative superlatives
Spanish relative superlatives express the greatest or least quality degree among others.When it comes to form the superlative. We must put the definite article “el.la,los.las” > “the” together with the word “más”> “the most” before adjectives:“el más interesante”>”the most interesting”. Unlike English, when using Spanish superlatives , we sometimes can also add a noun between the article and the adjective so as to be more specific.“el libro más interesante”> “The most interesting book” Take for example:
“New York is the most cosmopolitan city in The United States.”
La ciudad de Nueva York es la más cosmopolita de Los Estados Unidos.
Nueva York es la ciudad más cosmopolita de los Estados Unidos.
Absolute superlatives
These superlative adjectives are used to express the highest degree without comparing with other elements.There are two forms to express absolute superlatives. The first one involves using adverbs like: “muy”>”very”, “sumamente” < ”incredibly”or “extremadamente”> “extremely” which comes before the adjective. Another alternative could be by adding the suffix -isimo or -isima ro the root of the adjective . As it shows below:
“Este cable es muy largo” > “This wire is very long.”
“Este cable es larguísimo.” > “This wire is so long.”
“Maria es rapidísima para escribir.” > “Mary is so fast to write.”
“Esta situación es sumamente preocupante.” > “This situation is incredibly worrying.”
Prefixes to form superlatives
There are some prefixes which are placed at the beginning of the adjectives to form superlatives..For example: : extra-, sobre-, super-, hiper-, re-, ultra- , archi- and so forth.
“Este pegamento es extrafuerte.”< “ This glue is superstrength.”
“Su fuerza es sobrehumana.” “ His strength is superhuman”.
Now you are able to differentiate an object from a group by maximizing its qualities or minimizing them. At Bright Lingua you can get the chance to know more about this subject. What is more, you can access Spanish classes online to learn more about this beautiful language.