Pitman's Commercial Spanish Grammar (2nd ed.)

COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES.

The positive degree expresses the quality without any further idea of comparison, as Feliz (happy), Rico (rich).

      Comparative.                        Superlative Relative.

 Más feliz que (happier than).       El más feliz (the happiest).
 Menos feliz que (less happy than).  El menos feliz (the least happy).
 Tan rico como (as or so rich as).

EXAMPLES --

Mi tío es más pobre que su hermano: My uncle is poorer than his brother.
Su mujer es menos rica que él: His wife is less rich than he.
Soy tan feliz como V.: I am as happy as you.
No es tan amable como su primo: He is not so amiable as his cousin.

Superlative Absolute.

EXAMPLES --

Muy largo: Very long. Muy corto: Very short.

Another way to form the Superlative Absolute[39] is by adding ísimo instead of using muy. If the adjective ends in a vowel, this is elided before adding ísimo.

Footnote 39: More rarely used and much more emphatic.

EXAMPLES --

Estas frutas son muy maduras: These fruits are very ripe.
Estas frutas son madurísimas: These fruits are very ripe indeed.
Estos tenderos son muy ricos: These shopkeepers are very rich.
Aquellos son riquísimos: Those (others) are very rich indeed.

Before adding ísimo, adjectives ending in

ble change it into bil, as Amable, amabilísimo.
co     "        "  qu,  as Rico, riquísimo.
go     "        "  gu,  as Largo, larguísimo.

Adjectives of more than three syllables ending in ble, adjectives ending in two vowels, or in one vowel accented, should always take muy and not add ísimo for the Superlative Absolute.

Besides the regular forms of the Comparative and Superlative degrees, there are the following irregular forms --

 Mejor     (better). 
 Óptimo    (very good or best). 
 Peor      (worse). 
 Pésimo    (very bad or worst). 

 Mayor     (larger).
 Máximo    (very large or largest). 
 Menor     (smaller). 
 Mínimo    (very small or smallest). 
 Superior  (higher). 
 Supremo   (very high or highest). 
 Inferior  (lower). 
 Ínfimo    (very low or lowest).

 Future Tense,[40] Indic. Mood.

 Hablar.                 Temer.                 Partir

 Hablaré                 Temeré                 Partiré
  (I shall speak)         (I shall fear)         (I shall depart)
 Hablarás                 Temerás               Partirás
  (thou wilt speak)       (thou wilt fear)       (thou wilt depart)
 Hablará                 Temerá                 Partirá
  (he/she will speak)      (he/she will fear)    (he/she will depart)
 Hablaremos              Temeremos              Partiremos
  (we shall speak)        (we shall fear)        (we shall depart)
 Hablaréis               Temeréis               Partiréis
  (you will speak)        (you will fear)        (you will depart)
 Hablarán                Temerán                Partirán
  (they will speak)       (they will fear)       (they will depart)


 Conditional Mood.[40]

 Hablar.                 Temer.                 Partir

 Hablaría                Temería                Partiría
  (I should speak)        (I should fear)        (I should depart)
 Hablarías               Temerías               Partirías
  (thou wouldst speak)    (thou wouldst fear)    (thou wouldst...)
 Hablaría                Temería                Partiría
  (he/she would speak)     (he/she would fear)    (he/she would...)
 Hablaríamos             Temeríamos             Partiríamos
  (we should speak)       (we should fear)       (we should depart)
 Hablaríais              Temeríais              Partiríais
  (you would speak)       (you would fear)       (you would depart)
 Hablarían               Temerían               Partirían
  (they would speak)      (they would fear)      (they would depart)

Footnote 40: The Future Tense Indicative Mood and the Conditional Mood are formed from the Infinitive Mood by adding to the Infinitive the terminations: é, ás, á, emos, éis, án for the future; and ía, ías, ía, íamos, íais, ían for the conditional mood.