Breakdown of Mi hermano cree que su portátil es más pesado que el mío, pero está equivocado.
ser
to be
mi
my
estar
to be
pero
but
su
his
que
that
más
more
el hermano
the brother
el portátil
the laptop
que
than
creer
to think
pesado
heavy
el mío
mine
,
comma
equivocado
wrong
Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Spanish grammar and vocabulary.
Questions & Answers about Mi hermano cree que su portátil es más pesado que el mío, pero está equivocado.
Why does the sentence use portátil instead of ordenador portátil or another word?
In Spain, ordenador means “computer,” and people often say portátil for “laptop.” You could also say ordenador portátil, but portátil is shorter and very common in everyday speech. In Latin America you might hear laptop, notebook or computadora portátil, but in Spain portátil is the usual term.
Why is it su portátil? Couldn’t it be tu portátil or el portátil de él?
Su is the third-person possessive that covers his, her or your (formal). Since we’re talking about mi hermano (he), su portátil means “his laptop.” You wouldn’t use tu portátil (your laptop) unless speaking directly to him. You could say el portátil de él for clarity, but it’s longer and less natural.
Why is the comparative formed with más pesado que rather than más pesado de?
In Spanish, comparisons of inequality use más ... que (“more ... than”). You only use de after más when it introduces a number (más de 10 kilos) or in some superlative expressions (el más pesado de todos). Here, “heavier than mine” is correctly más pesado que el mío.
Why does el mío need the article el before mío?
When you use possessive pronouns like mío, tuyo, suyo, etc., you must include the definite article: el mío, la mía, los nuestros. Without the article, it wouldn’t be grammatically correct in Spanish.
What’s the difference between mi and mío? I see mi hermano and also el mío.
Mi is a possessive adjective placed before a noun (mi hermano = my brother). Mío is a possessive pronoun that replaces the noun (el mío = mine). In your sentence, el mío stands for mi portátil.
Why is más accented but mi in mi hermano is not?
Más carries an accent to distinguish it from mas (literary for “but”). As for mío, the accent on the í marks the stressed syllable in the pronoun/adjective form. Mi (without accent) is a short, unstressed possessive adjective before a noun, so it doesn’t take an accent.
Why is cree que followed by the indicative es and not the subjunctive sea?
Creer que expresses belief or certainty, so you use the indicative: cree que es. The subjunctive (sea) would appear if there were doubt or negation (No creo que sea más pesado = “I don’t think it is heavier”).
Is the comma before pero mandatory in Spanish?
A comma before pero to mark contrast is very common, but not strictly mandatory. You can write “...el mío, pero está equivocado” or “...el mío pero está equivocado”. Including the comma is recommended for clarity, though.
Why do we say está equivocado instead of es equivocado?
Equivocado is an adjective describing a temporary state (“wrong”). In Spanish, states and conditions take estar, so está equivocado = “he is wrong.” Using ser (es equivocado) would imply a permanent trait, which doesn’t fit here.