Learn Spanish (Spain): El elefante es más grande que el ratón.

El elefante es más grande que el ratón.

The elephant is bigger than the mouse.

Breakdown of El elefante es más grande que el ratón.

more; else (anything else, nobody else)

el elefante

the elephant

Questions & Answers about El elefante es más grande que el ratón.

In English we say "bigger," but here it says más grande. Does Spanish not have words ending in "-er" for comparisons?

Correct! Unlike English, which often adds "-er" to the end of short adjectives (like "bigger" or "taller"), Spanish almost always uses más (more) + the adjective. So, "bigger" literally translates to "more big" (más grande).

Why is the word que used here for "than"? Doesn't que usually mean "what" or "that"?

Yes, que has a few different meanings depending on the context! When you are comparing two things using más (more) or menos (less), you always use que to mean "than". So the formula to remember is: más + adjective + que.

Would the word grande change if we were comparing feminine animals?

No, it would stay exactly the same. Adjectives that end in -e in Spanish, like grande, are unisex. They don't change to match masculine or feminine nouns. They only change when talking about multiple things by adding an -s.

Why do we use es instead of está to talk about the elephant's size?

We use es (from the verb ser) because a species' typical size is considered a fundamental characteristic or a permanent physical trait, rather than a temporary state.