Learn Spanish (Latin America): ¿El río es menos peligroso que el océano? - Is the river less dangerous than the ocean?

¿El río es menos peligroso que el océano?

Is the river less dangerous than the ocean?

Breakdown of ¿El río es menos peligroso que el océano?

to (telling time) / minus / less

Questions & Answers about ¿El río es menos peligroso que el océano?

How do we say 'less... than' in this sentence?

To make a comparison of inferiority, we use the formula menos + adjective + que. Here, we use menos peligroso que to say 'less dangerous than'.

Why do we use que here to mean 'than'?

In Spanish, the word que has a few different meanings (like 'what' or 'that'), but it is always used to mean 'than' whenever you are comparing two things using más (more) or menos (less). It acts as the bridge linking the two things you are comparing.

Does the adjective peligroso describe the river or the ocean?

It describes el río (the river), which is the main subject we are talking about. Because el río is a masculine singular noun, the adjective must also be masculine and singular (peligroso). If the first noun were feminine, like la playa (the beach), the adjective would change to peligrosa regardless of what the second noun is.

How do we know this is a question? The word order looks exactly like a normal statement.

In English, we usually swap the word order to ask a question ('The river is' becomes 'Is the river?'). In Spanish, you do not have to swap the words. You can use the exact same word order as a regular statement (El río es...) and simply wrap it in question marks (¿ and ?). When speaking, you just raise the pitch of your voice at the end to show you are asking something.