Breakdown of El desierto es menos popular que la isla.
ser
to be
que
that / than
popular
popular
menos
to (telling time) / minus / less
el desierto
desert
la isla
island
Questions & Answers about El desierto es menos popular que la isla.
How does the "less... than" structure work in this sentence?
Wait, doesn't que usually mean "what" or "that"?
It does! But in comparative sentences like this one, que translates to "than". You'll always use que right after the adjective when comparing two things with más (more) or menos (less). Notice that it doesn't have an accent mark here, unlike the question word ¿qué? (what?).
Since el desierto is masculine and la isla is feminine, which noun does the adjective agree with?
The adjective in a comparison always agrees with the first noun—the one actually being described. Here, that's el desierto. However, because popular ends in a consonant rather than -o or -a, it has the exact same form for both masculine and feminine words. Even if we swapped the sentence to start with la isla, the word popular wouldn't change.
Why do we use es instead of está to say something is popular?
We use the verb ser (here, es) to describe characteristics, qualities, or traits of a person or place. Even though popularity might change over the years, Spanish treats it as a defining characteristic of the desert, rather than a temporary physical state or emotion (which would require estar).
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