Questions & Answers about Noventa es más que ochenta.
Why is es used here? Isn’t this just comparing two numbers?
Es is the verb ser (to be) in the él/ella/usted form.
In Spanish, a number word like noventa can act as a singular noun-like idea, so Spanish uses es:
- Noventa es más que ochenta.
Literally, this is like saying Ninety is more than eighty.
You usually do not omit es here in a normal sentence. Spanish needs the verb.
Why is it más que and not más de?
When Spanish compares one thing directly with another, it normally uses:
- más ... que = more ... than
- menos ... que = less ... than
So:
- noventa es más que ochenta
That is the standard comparison pattern.
Más de is used in other situations, especially with amounts like more than 20, more than a year, etc.:
- más de veinte personas = more than twenty people
So in this sentence, where one number is being compared with another specific number, más que is the expected choice.
What does the accent mark in más do?