In Spanish, to compare actions, you use a structure that connects two verbs or two verb phrases. The essential thing is to maintain parallel construction so the comparison is clear. You can compare frequency, preference, ability, speed, and other ideas. The comparison may include an explicit subject or not.

"More than" expresses that an action occurs with greater intensity, frequency, or preference than another. It can appear between infinitives, between phrases with conjugation, or with an implicit comparison. It is common with verbs of preference, time, and quantity.

"Less Than" expresses that an action occurs with lesser intensity, frequency, or preference than another. It functions as the mirror of "more than" and is used with the same types of comparison. It can avoid ambiguity when the central idea is lower frequency or intensity.

"Equal To" indicates that two actions or ways of acting are considered equivalent in some aspect. It can be used with infinitives or with conjugated phrases. It tends to appear when one wants to avoid a hierarchy and emphasize similarity.

"As... as" compares degrees of a quality, not complete actions, so it is usually used with adjectives or adverbs. In comparisons of verbs, it appears to compare how well, how fast, or how frequently something is done. The key is not to substitute "more than" with "as... as" without a degree reference.

Parallelism consists of maintaining similar structures on both sides of the comparison. In Spanish, it is usually clearer to compare two infinitives, two conjugated forms, or two equivalent phrases. Breaking the parallelism can sound odd or create ambiguity about what is being compared.

When using "more than" with a single action and a complement, ambiguity can sometimes arise: it isn't clear whether the action or another part of the sentence is being compared. In Spanish, this ambiguity is famous with verbs like "eat" and complements like "to my brother". To avoid it, you can reformulate or use explicit parallelism.

"Prefer" allows comparing two options without relying on "more than", using "to" to introduce the second option. It can also appear with "antes que" to indicate order or priority, not only taste. Choosing between "more than" and "prefer" changes the focus of the sentence.

When comparing actions without logical relation, the sentence can be grammatical but sound absurd. In Spanish, the comparison works formally, but the meaning depends on whether the two actions are comparable in a context. This phenomenon is useful for noting that grammar does not guarantee coherence.

To compare verbs in Spanish, use "more than" and "less than" with parallelism, "equal to" for equivalence, and "as... as" for degrees with adjectives or adverbs. Be mindful of ambiguity in sentences with complements and consider "prefer X to Y" as a clear alternative. Coherence depends on choosing actions that are comparable in meaning, not just in form.