西班牙语中的“Más Que”与“Más De”

 Spanish has two common ways of saying "more than" and two corresponding ways of saying "less than," but they don't mean the same thing to a native Spanish speaker and aren't interchangeable.

 

 

Tip for Remembering the Rule on 'More Than' and 'Less Than'

Both más que and más de are usually translated as "more than," while menos que and menos de typically are translated as "less than." Menos de is also frequently translated as "fewer than."

 

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Fortunately, the basic rule for remembering which to use is simple: Más de and menos de normally are used before numbers. (If you like mnemonic devices, think D for "digit.") Más que and menos que are used in making comparisons. (Think K for "comparison.")

 

Some examples of más de and menos de:

 

Pronto vamos a ver el aceite a más de cinco euros por litro. (Soon we're going to see oil

at more than 5 euros per liter.)

El estudio dice que las mujeres necesitan más de un hombre para ser felices. (The study says women need more than one man in order to be happy.)

¿Es posible sentir amor por más de una persona? (Is it possible to feel love toward more than one person? Note that while una can mean "a," it also is the feminine form of the number one.)

Las temperaturas mínimas descendieron a menos de cero grados. (The low temperatures fell to less than zero degrees.)

Hay muchos alimentos con menos de 100 calorías. (There are many foods with fewer than 100 calories.)

Adquirir una vivienda de menos de un millón de pesos en la Ciudad de México es complicado, pero no imposible. (Purchasing a home for less on than a million pesos in Mexico City is complicated but not impossible.)

Here are some examples of comparisons using que:

 

 

Nadie te ama más que yo. (Nobody loves you more than I do.)

Eres mucho más que tus sentimientos. (You are much more than your feelings.)

Gano menos que ella. (I earn less than she does.)

Yo estaba más feliz que un niño con juguete nuevo. (I was happier than a boy with a new toy.)

Me duele más que antes. (This hurts me more than before.)

Soy blogger y sé mucho más que si fuera política. (I'm a blogger and I know much more than if I were a politician.)

Se necesitan más manos que trabajen y menos gente que critique. (Needed are more hands that work and fewer people who criticize.)

 

Note that comparison takes the following form:

 

Subject + verb + more/less than + subject + verb

Sujeto + verbo + más/menos que + sujeto + verbo

More Examples of 'More Than' and 'Less Than'

However, in both Spanish and English, the noun and/or verb in the second part of the sentence can be implied rather than stated explicitly. In the final sentences given, for example, both the noun and verb are omitted in the second half. "This hurts me more than before" (Me duele más que antes) has the same meaning as "This hurts me more than it hurt me before" (Me duele más que me dolía antes). If you can't readily expand a sentence to such a form, then there is no comparison being made.

 

Here are some more examples using más de and menos de. Note how these sentences can't be restructured the same way a comparison can:

 

La Wikipedia tiene más de 100.000 artículos. (The Wikipedia has more than 100,000 articles.)

El estudiante promedio necesita más de cuatro años para obtener su título. (The average student needs more than four years to earn his or her degree.)

Son menos de las cinco de la tarde. (It is not yet 5 p.m.)

Menos de uno de cada tres españoles con derecho a voto apoya el tratado. (Fewer than one out of three Spaniards with the right to vote support the treaty.)

In those rare cases wher más de or menos de isn't followed by a number, de usually can be translated as "of" or "about," never "than."

 

Le deseo muchos años más de felicidad. (I wish you many more years of happiness.)

Quiero saber más de los dinosaurios. (I want to know more about dinosaurs.)

Nike Air: un poco menos de dolor. (eslogan publicitario) (Nike Air: A little less hurt. (advertising slogan)

An Exception to the Number Rule

wher a comparison is being made, más que can be followed by a number. Example: Tiene más dinero que diez reyes, he has more money than 10 kings.

 

To use de in the just-given example would be nonsensical (unless rey were a unit of money). There are a very few cases, however, wher the distinction between más de and más que can eliminate an ambiguity that's present in the English "more than." Take, for example, a sentence such as "he can eat more than a horse." The sentence could be translated to Spanish in two ways, depending on what is meant in English:

 

Puede comer más que un caballo. (He can eat more than a horse can eat.)

Puede comer más de un caballo. (He can eat a greater amount of food than eating a horse.)

The first example above is a comparison, while the second is not.