Learn how to talk about things using comparisons, such as "this is better than" or "less than"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Alisha: Hi everybody, this is Alisha. |
| Fernando: Hola amigos, yo soy Fernando. |
| Alisha: Welcome back to SpanishPod101.com. Making Comparisons in Spanish. In this lesson you will learn how to talk about things in Spanish using comparisons, such as ‘this is better than that or less than that’ and so on. |
| Fernando: This conversation is between Ashley and a store clerk, and takes place at an alcohol shop. |
| Alisha: The speakers don’t know each other, and they’re in a business situation, so they’ll be speaking formal Spanish. |
| Fernando: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Ashley ¿Cuál tequila es más caro |
| Attendant: El tequila añejo es más caro que el blanco. |
| Ashley ¿Y cuál tequila es más rico? |
| Attendant: El añejo es más rico, pero menos popular. |
| Alisha: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Ashley ¿Cuál tequila es más caro |
| Attendant: El tequila añejo es más caro que el blanco. |
| Ashley ¿Y cuál tequila es más rico? |
| Attendant: El añejo es más rico, pero menos popular. |
| Alisha: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Ashley ¿Cuál tequila es más caro |
| What tequila is more expensive - the aged one, or the white one? |
| Attendant: El tequila añejo es más caro que el blanco. |
| Aged tequila is more expensive than white tequila. |
| Ashley ¿Y cuál tequila es más rico? |
| And which tequila is tastier? |
| Attendant: El añejo es más rico, pero menos popular. |
| Aged tequila is tastier, but less popular. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Alisha: So Fernando, can you explain to us the difference between white and aged tequila? |
| Fernando Sure, Alisha. White tequila is bottled right after distillation, and its taste is quite pure. |
| Alisha: What about aged tequila? |
| Fernando: Aged tequila is kept for about one year or more in oak barrels, so its flavor and fragrance are quite woody. |
| Alisha: And which is higher quality? |
| Fernando: In general, aged tequila is better. |
| Alisha: I know people drink tequila in shots, but how strong is it? |
| Fernando: Most of the time it’s around 40 percent alcohol. But not all people drink it in shot glasses! |
| Alisha: Oh really? How else can you drink it? |
| Fernando: In the original old tradition, you were supposed to drink it slowly in a wine glass called copa tequilera. |
| Alisha: Huh, interesting! Okay, so now let’s see the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| The first word we shall see is: |
| Fernando: cual [natural native speed] |
| which |
| Fernando: cual [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: cual [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Alisha: más [natural native speed] |
| more, plus |
| Alisha: más [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Alisha: más [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Fernando: caro [natural native speed] |
| expensive |
| Fernando caro [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: caro[natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Alisha: añejo [natural native speed] |
| aged |
| Alisha: añejo [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Alisha: añejo [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Fernando: blanco [natural native speed] |
| white |
| Fernando: blanco [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: blanco [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Alisha: que [natural native speed] |
| than |
| Alisha: que [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Alisha: que [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Fernando: rico [natural native speed] |
| tasty, delicious, rich |
| Fernando: rico [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: rico [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Alisha: pero [natural native speed] |
| but |
| Alisha: pero [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Alisha: pero [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Fernando: menos [natural native speed] |
| minus, less |
| Fernando: menos [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: menos [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Alisha: popular [natural native speed] |
| popular, well known |
| Alisha: popular [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Alisha: popular [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Alisha Let's have a closer look at the usuage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Fernando: The first words we’ll look at are... ‘más’ and ‘menos’. |
| Alisha: meaning “more”, and “less”. |
| Fernando: For example, if you are having dinner and want to have seconds, you can say ‘más por favor’ meaning “more please”. |
| Alisha: Listeners, please repeat. |
| Fernando: Más por favor [pause] |
| Alisha: And if you want to be served less...? |
| Fernando: ‘Menos por favor’ |
| Alisha: Listeners, please repeat. |
| Fernando: Menos por favor [pause] |
| Alisha: You can also use these words in front of adjectives to create superlatives, like “better”, “nicer”, “prettier”. Let’s give an example of this, using the adjective “big”. |
| Fernando: “Big” is ‘grande’. So we have... ‘Más grande’, meaning “bigger”. |
| Repeat after me - ‘Más grande’ [pause] |
| Alisha: How about the adjective, “expensive”? |
| Fernando: “Expensive” is ‘caro’, so ‘más caro’ means “more expensive.” |
| Alisha: Okay, great. Now when Ashley asked the store attendant which tequila is tastier, what did she ask? |
| Fernando: Cuál tequila es más rico? |
| Alisha: “Which tequila is tastier?” Let’s break it down. |
| Fernando: ‘Cual’ means “which”, tequila is, of course, tequila, ‘es’ means “is”, and ‘mas rico’ means “tastier”. Again, it’s ‘Cuál tequila es más rico’? |
| Alisha: So ‘rico’ means “good”, as in delicious... |
| Fernando: Yes. Repeat after me - ‘rico’ [pause] |
| Alisha: Give us some more examples. |
| Fernando: Okay. ‘Qué rico!’ means “how delicious”. Repeat after me - ‘qué rico’ [pause] |
| Alisha: All right, now it’s time for the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
| Alisha: The focus of this lesson is learning how to make comparative statements using “more than” |
| Fernando: Más que... |
| Alisha: And “less than” |
| Fernando: Menos que... |
| Alisha: Let’s repeat everybody.. |
| Fernando: Más que... [pause] |
| Menos que [pause] |
| Alisha: So let’s see how you can make a sentence like “A is more [blank] than B”. For example, let’s say you have two museums, and you want to say that one is bigger than the other. In English we say “Museum A is bigger than Museum B” |
| Fernando: Like we learned earlier, the word for “big” is ‘grande’. |
| Alisha: So what would the sentence be? |
| Fernando: We say - ‘El Museo A es más grande que el Museo B.’ |
| Alisha: So I think the key word here is ‘que’. |
| Fernando: Right. ‘Que’ means “than”. In other words, bigger than... smaller than. We say ‘que’. Everyone repeat - ‘que’ [pause] |
| Alisha: So again - “Museum A is bigger than Museum B.” |
| Fernando: El Museo A es más grande que el Museo B. |
| Alisha: Now how about the opposite? “Museum A is smaller than Museum B.” |
| Fernando: We can say it two ways - ‘El Museo A es menos grande que el museo B.’ |
| Alisha: Literally, “Museum A is less big than Museum B. In natural English we’d say something like, not as big. But here we’re saying “less big”. |
| Fernando: Or... El Museo B es más chico que el Museo A. |
| Alisha: Now you’re making sense! You used the word for “small”, right? |
| Fernando: Correct. ‘Chico’. |
| Alisha: Please repeat - “small” |
| Fernando: chico [pause] |
| Alisha: Smaller than... |
| Fernando: Más chico que... [pause] |
| Alisha: So you can say it both ways in Spanish? |
| Fernando: Yes, depending on what you want to emphasize. |
| Alisha: Okay, let’s look at the example from the dialogue before we go. |
| Fernando: The shop clerk said ‘El tequila añejo es más caro que el blanco.’ |
| Alisha: “Aged tequila is more expensive than white tequila.” Let’s break it down. |
| Fernando: El tequila añejo |
| Alisha: Aged tequila |
| Fernando: es más caro |
| Alisha: is more expensive |
| Fernando: que. |
| Alisha: than |
| Fernando: el blanco |
| Alisha: “...the white tequila.” So the key phrase here is...? |
| Fernando: ‘es más caro que,’ “is more expensive than” |
Outro |
| Alisha: Great! That sums it up for now, listeners. Please remember to check your lesson notes and keep studying. |
| Fernando: And let us know if you have any questions! |
| Alisha: Bye everyone! |
| Fernando: Hasta luego! |
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