Learn Spanish (Latin America): El río es menos profundo que el lago.

El río es menos profundo que el lago.

The river is less deep than the lake.

Breakdown of El río es menos profundo que el lago.

to (telling time) / minus / less

el lago

the lake

Questions & Answers about El río es menos profundo que el lago.

How do you form "less than" comparisons in Spanish?

You frame the adjective with menos (less) and que (than). So, menos profundo que translates directly to "less deep than". If you wanted to say "more deep than", you would just swap it to más profundo que.

Why do we use es here? Isn't the depth of a river something that can change?

We use es (from the verb ser) to describe normal, defining characteristics of a place or thing. Even though water levels might fluctuate, being "deep" or "shallow" is treated as a permanent, core trait of the river itself.

Does the adjective profundo match the first noun or the second noun?

It matches the first noun, which is the subject of the sentence. Since el río is a masculine word, we use profundo. If the subject were a feminine word, like a pool (la piscina), you would say la piscina es menos profunda que el lago.

Why does the word río have an accent mark on the letter i?

The written accent tells you to pronounce the "i" and "o" as two separate syllables (REE-oh) and put the spoken stress on the "i". Without the accent mark, standard Spanish pronunciation rules would blend those two vowels together.