Learn Spanish (Spain): Mis hermanas son igual de simpáticas que mi madre. - My sisters are just as nice as my mother.

Mis hermanas son igual de simpáticas que mi madre.

My sisters are just as nice as my mother.

Breakdown of Mis hermanas son igual de simpáticas que mi madre.

Questions & Answers about Mis hermanas son igual de simpáticas que mi madre.

Can I use tan ... como instead of igual de ... que in this sentence?

Yes! You can say son igual de simpáticas que mi madre or son tan simpáticas como mi madre. Both mean "just as nice as". Just remember not to mix up the pairs: igual de always goes with que, and tan always goes with como.

Why doesn't igual become iguales to match the plural Mis hermanas?

In this specific phrase, igual acts as an adverb meaning "equally". Adverbs never change their form to match gender or number. Only the adjective simpáticas changes to match the feminine, plural Mis hermanas.

Is it possible to drop the de and just say igual simpáticas que?

No, the word de is mandatory here. Whenever you use igual to compare how much of an adjective two things share, the fixed formula is always igual de + adjective + que.

Why is que used here instead of como for the second "as"?

The word for the second "as" changes depending on the first word of the comparison. Because we started the comparison with igual de, Spanish grammar strictly requires que to complete it. If we had started with tan, we would have used como.