What are the best strategies for solving inequalities in Spanish?

In Spanish, the inequality symbols are the same as in English - mayor que (>) for "greater than", menor que (<) for "less than", and igual a (=) for "equal to".

When making comparisons of inequality, the structure is: más/menos + adjective/adverb + que.

For example, "Esta casa es más grande que la otra" (This house is bigger than the other).

Spanish uses the preposition "de" to indicate the comparison is between two specific things, like "Ella es más alta de sus hermanas" (She is taller than her sisters).

Irregular comparative adjectives like "mejor" (better) and "peor" (worse) follow the same inequality structures, such as "Él es mejor estudiante que yo" (He is a better student than me).

Superlative forms like "el/la/los/las más" and "el/la/los/las menos" are used to indicate the highest or lowest degree, e.g.

"Ésta es la menos costosa de las opciones" (This is the least expensive of the options).

Spanish allows the omission of the second part of the comparison when it's clear from context, for example "Esta camisa es más cara" (This shirt is more expensive [than the other one]).

Inequalities can also be expressed using nouns, like "Tengo más dinero que tú" (I have more money than you).

Adverbs follow a similar pattern, such as "Ella corre más rápido que yo" (She runs faster than me).

Negative comparisons use the word "menos" (less), for instance "Él es menos inteligente que su hermano" (He is less intelligent than his brother).

Spanish allows the use of "tan...como" to express equality, like "Ella es tan alta como su padre" (She is as tall as her father).

Solving multi-step Spanish inequality problems often requires translating the written problem into mathematical expressions and then solving step-by-step.

Online Spanish learning resources provide extensive practice with inequality word problems to help students develop fluency in this grammatical concept.