Breakdown of Aquel océano es el más extenso del mundo.
ser
to be
del
of the / from the / about the (topic)
más
more; else (anything else, nobody else)
aquel
that over there (m.sg., also aquella, aquellos, aquellas, aquello)
el mundo
the world
el océano
the ocean
extenso
vast
Questions & Answers about Aquel océano es el más extenso del mundo.
Why do we need the word el in el más extenso?
This is how you form a relative superlative (stating that something is "the most" or "the least"). You combine a definite article like el, la, los, or las with más (most) or menos (least), followed by an adjective. Since océano is a masculine, singular noun, we match it by using el más extenso.
Why does it say del mundo instead of en el mundo for "in the world"?
When using a superlative in Spanish, you define the group or place it belongs to with the preposition de (of), not en (in). Even though we say "the most extensive in the world" in English, Spanish grammatically says "the most extensive of the world." Because mundo is masculine, de merges with el to form the contraction del.
Why is Aquel used for "That" instead of Ese?
Spanish has two demonstrative adjectives for "that" depending on distance. You use ese for something relatively close to the person you are talking to. You use aquel for something far away from both the speaker and the listener. The speaker uses aquel here to emphasize that the ocean is physically distant from where they currently are.
Why do we use es instead of está when describing the ocean's size?
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