Más and Menos as Determiners

Más (more) and menos (less, fewer) are usually taught as the building blocks of comparative adjectives (más alto, menos inteligente). But they also work as determiners directly in front of nouns — and, unlike most Spanish determiners, they are completely invariable. They never change for gender or number. This makes them some of the easiest words in Spanish to use.

One Form Each

Whether the noun is masculine, feminine, singular, or plural, más and menos stay exactly the same.

Más / Menos + Noun

The basic structure is simply más / menos + noun. No article in between.

With Numbers: Más de / Menos de

When más or menos is followed by a number or a specific quantity, use de, not que.

Compare with standard comparisons using que:

The rule: más/menos + de before a number, más/menos + que before a comparison partner.

Standalone Expressions

Más and menos show up in dozens of handy fixed phrases and adverb-like uses:

Más with Questions and Exclamations

Más combines with interrogatives and exclamatives to mean else or to intensify.

The exclamation ¡Qué N más + adjective! is a very natural Spanish way to say what a... !.

Más... Que and Menos... Que — Comparatives

Though covered in detail under comparatives, it's worth noting that when más or menos stands between an adjective and que, you're building a standard comparison.

When a noun is in the comparison, más / menos sits in front of it:

Más and menos are tiny words with massive range. Learn their invariable form, the de / que distinction for numbers, and a handful of fixed expressions, and you have a big piece of everyday Spanish in your pocket.