home edit page issue tracker

This page pertains to UD version 2.

Degree: degree of comparison

Values: Abs Cmp Dim Sup

Degree of comparison is an inflectional feature of some adverbs in Spanish.

In Spanish, comparative and superlative degrees are often constructed syntactically rather than through inflection. The comparative is typically formed by placing “más” (more) or “menos” (less) before the adjective or adverb, and “que” (than) after it. The superlative, on the other hand, is formed by placing “el/la/los/las más” (the most) or “el/la/los/las menos” (the least) before the adjective or adverb. However, the Universal Dependencies scheme does not tag these constructions.

Instead, only four specific adverbs — “más”, “menos”, “máximo”, and “mínimo” — receive the Degree feature in the UD scheme. These are standalone adverbs that can express degree without additional context, hence their categorization. In this case the UD scheme prioritizes tagging words that inherently carry comparative or superlative meaning, rather than syntactic constructions that create these meanings.

Cmp: comparative

Comparative degree in Spanish is used to compare two entities. The adverbs más “more” and menos “less” are tagged with the degree value Cmp.

Example:

Sup: superlative

Superlative degree in Spanish is used to express the highest or lowest degree of a quality within a set or group. The adverbs máximo “most” and mínimo “least” are tagged with the degree value Sup.

Example:

Abs: absolute superlative

The absolutive degree expresses morphologically that the studied quality of the given object is so strong that there is hardly any other object exceeding it. The quality is not actually compared to any particular set of objects.

Example:

Dim: diminutive

The diminutive degree in Spanish is used to express a lesser degree or a smaller version of something, either physically or in intensity. It often conveys feelings of affection, tenderness, or endearment. In nouns and adjectives this is commonly achieved by adding suffixes like -ito, -ita, -illo, -illa. Additional regional suffixes also used for creating diminutive forms are -ico, -ica, -ín, and -ino. These suffixes can also be used in adverbs and verbs, especially in Latin American varieties and with various semantic implications.

Example:


Degree in other languages: [af] [bej] [bg] [cs] [cy] [el] [en] [es] [et] [fi] [ga] [grc] [gub] [hu] [hy] [it] [ka] [ky] [la] [pcm] [pt] [qpm] [quc] [ru] [sl] [sv] [tr] [tt] [u] [uk] [urj]