Cuarta lección de nuestro curso de inglés en su nivel elemental. En esta lección vamos a aprender cómo hacer comparaciones en inglés usando superlativos, esto es, expresiones como "the biggest" o "the best" ("el más grande", "el mejor"). El tema que usaremos como contexto de estas expresiones será el de la planificación de un viaje o de unas vacaciones.

Elementary - planning a trip

Study points

In this lesson we are going to talk about how to make comparison in English using superlatives. Expressions like "the biggest" or "the best". Today´s movie is about vacation. Eddie wants to go on vacation. Christina is helping him choose where to go.

Watch

Before we watch the movie we´ll look at some new words:

- Package tour.  Package tours are cheap vacation. When you buy a package tour, it often includes your flight and your hotel.
- Resort. A resort is a place where you go for your vacation.
- A tight budget. This means you don´t have much money to spend.

Does Eddie want a cheap or expensive vacation?

Learn

Edie wants a cheap holiday, "he is on a tight budget". Luckily, Christina has lots of different kinds of travel brochures.

"The cheapest package tour". We add "-est" to the adjective to make the superlative: "cheapest".

The superlative is used when you compare more than two things. But if the adjective is long like expensive, we use most before the adjective: "most expensive".

Let´s look at another example from the movie.

It´s the busiest place for nightlife. But the beaches are some of the most crowded in Europe. "Most crowded": this is a longer adjective, so we use "most" before it. 

When the adjective ends in "y", we had: "-iest".

Busy -> busiest
Happy -> happiest
Friendly -> friendliest

Try

Now it´s your turn. Use the adjective to make the superlative:

"Eddie is on a tight budget. He chose the _____ vacation. (cheapest)"
"Ibiza is the _______ place for nightlife, but the beaches are the ____  _____ in Europe. (busiest / most crowded).

Review points

You should be able to make comparisons using superlatives now. It´s one of the most common expression in English.

"Ibiza is the busiest place for nightlife. 

The beaches are the most crowded in Europe."