Learn Spanish (Latin America): El corredor es tan rápido como el atleta.

El corredor es tan rápido como el atleta.

The runner is as fast as the athlete.

Breakdown of El corredor es tan rápido como el atleta.

as / like (such as, similar to)

Questions & Answers about El corredor es tan rápido como el atleta.

Why do we use tan here instead of tanto?

In Spanish, we use tan before adjectives (like rápido) and adverbs to mean "as". We only use tanto (or its forms like tanta or tantos) before nouns to mean "as much" or "as many". Since "fast" is an adjective describing the runner, tan rápido como is the correct way to say "as fast as".

Atleta ends in "-a". Why does it use the masculine article el in this sentence?

The word atleta can be either masculine or feminine depending on the person you are talking about. The spelling always ends in "-a", so you simply change the article before it to show who you mean. El atleta refers to a male athlete, while la atleta refers to a female athlete.

If the runner were female, would the word rápido change?

Yes! Even when making a comparison, the adjective has to match the gender of the main person or thing it describes. If we were talking about a female runner (la corredora), the sentence would change to: La corredora es tan rápida como el atleta.