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'Similar to something': adjectives followed by 'a'

When you say that one thing is the same as, like, or similar to another in Spanish, adjectives such as igual, parecido, semejante and similar introduce the thing you are comparing with the little preposition a: igual a la mía, parecido a su padre, similar a este.

English speakers trip over this because English changes the word every time: the same as, a house like ours, similar to this. So learners reach for como (translating like or as), or they drop the preposition entirely. Spanish is simpler here. One preposition, a, covers them all.

Word list
igualA1 same igual a = the same as (igual a la mía = the same as mine, igual que also correct) diferenteA2 different diferente a / de = different from distintomA2 different distinto a / de = different from parecidomB1 similar parecido a = similar to, like (never parecido como) semejanteB1 similar semejante a = similar to (more formal) similarB1 similar similar a = similar to
How it works

The pattern is always the same: adjective + a + the thing you compare with. The adjective agrees with the noun it describes, not with the comparison target, so watch the endings: parecida, iguales, similares.

  • the same as mine: igual a la mía
  • like ours: parecida a la nuestra
  • similar to the last ones: similares a los anteriores

Remember that a + el contracts to al: parecido al tuyo, igual al original.

Rule of thumb: whenever English uses as, like or to after a word meaning same or similar, Spanish uses a. Never use como after these adjectives.

The words

Igual means the same or equal. It has only one form for masculine and feminine, and the plural is iguales.

Estas llaves son iguales a las mías.
(These keys are the same as mine.)
Tu respuesta es igual a la mía.
(Your answer is the same as mine.)

Parecido is the everyday word for similar or alike. It is often the natural translation of English like after a noun.

Compraron una casa parecida a la nuestra.
(They bought a house like ours.)
Tu móvil es muy parecido al mío.
(Your phone is very similar to mine.)

Similar and semejante both mean similar. Similar is common in speech and writing, and semejante sounds a bit more formal. Both have one form for masculine and feminine.

Tenemos problemas similares a los del año pasado.
(We have problems similar to last year's.)
Vivieron una situación semejante a la nuestra.
(They went through a situation similar to ours.)

The opposites, diferente and distinto, also take a, where English says different from. With these two, de is just as correct: distinto de, diferente de.

Esta ciudad es muy diferente a Madrid.
(This city is very different from Madrid.)
Mi idea es distinta a la tuya.
(My idea is different from yours.)

Two related words not covered here, idéntico (identical) and equivalente (equivalent), follow the same pattern: idéntico a, equivalente a.

Watch out

The typical mistake is copying English like or as with como. After parecido, similar and semejante, como is simply wrong: say parecido a mi hermano, not parecido como mi hermano. The other mistake is leaving the preposition out, as in similar este. Spanish needs the a.

Igual is the one exception to watch: igual que is also perfectly correct and very common, especially in speech. It is used when you compare how people are or how they do things, often with a person or a pronoun after it.

Pienso igual que tú.
(I think the same as you.)
Eres igual que tu madre.
(You're just like your mother.)

So with igual you can choose between a and que. With igual a you can't go wrong when you compare two things, and igual que is best for actions and people. Neither is ever igual como.

Summary

After adjectives of similarity and difference, Spanish introduces the comparison with a: igual a, parecido a, similar a, semejante a, diferente a, distinto a. Don't translate English as or like with como, and don't drop the preposition. Just remember two options: igual que is also correct, and diferente and distinto can take de too.