Comparatives: mais… do que; menos… do que; "que nem" (colloquial)

Comparing helps you choose a restaurant, discuss football, complain about prices and describe family resemblances. Mais and menos are invariable, but their position depends on what you compare. Learn the usual irregular forms melhor, pior, maior, menor, distinguish degree equality from likeness, and use que nem in informal contexts.

More and less: one pattern, four word classes

Mais and menos never change shape. They precede adjectives, adverbs and nouns, but follow the verb in the pattern shown below. Adjectives still agree with their nouns where required.

The do is optional. Do que and que are both correct, and the same Brazilian will use both within one conversation without noticing. Neither is more educated than the other and neither belongs to a particular region.

Shopping and choosing

• "Esse é mais barato que o outro." (This one's cheaper than the other.)

• "A loja do centro tem mais opções." (The shop downtown has more options.)

• "Ficou bem mais caro este ano." (It's got a lot more expensive this year.)

• "Tem algum menor?" (Do you have a smaller one?)

People

• "Minha irmã é mais nova que eu." (My sister is younger than me.)

• "Ele é tão teimoso quanto o avô." (He's as stubborn as his grandfather.)

• "Ela dirige melhor que todo mundo aqui." (She drives better than everyone here.)

• "Tenho menos paciência do que você." (I have less patience than you.)

melhor and pior are adverbs too

Melhor is the comparative of both adjective bom and adverb bem; pior similarly serves mau/ruim and mal. In simple adverb comparisons like these, use melhor/pior. Mais bem/mais mal can occur with participles or when contrasting qualities.

• ✅ "Ela canta melhor que eu." ❌ Ela canta mais bem que eu.

• ✅ "Ele dirige pior depois do almoço." ❌ mais mal

Mais pequeno and context

Mais pequeno is normal in Portugal; menor is the usual Brazilian choice for comparing size. Analytical forms such as mais grande are also possible when contrasting qualities of one subject. These preferences are not universal bans.

Que nem is informal

Que nem occurs in speech, informal writing and literary texts. In formal prose, como is often a suitable choice for likeness. Use tão… quanto when the intended comparison is equality of degree:

• informal: "Ele fala que nem carioca."

• more neutral: "Ele fala como um carioca."

Brazilians are regularly told that que nem is careless speech — one reader wrote to the grammarian Silveira Bueno to ask whether it was grosso caipirismo, roughly "crude hick talk". His answer was that it is bom português, found in good authors; Cegalla files it as a popular equivalent of como, and Napoleão Mendes de Almeida traces it through the vernacular with a literary example of his own. One proposed analysis links its strange shape to a longer sentence: Ela pula que nem uma guariba could be understood as "she jumps in such a way that not even a howler monkey jumps like that". Ciberdúvidas presents this connection as a hypothesis, not an established historical origin. Sources: Migalhas — Gramatigalhas · Ciberdúvidas.