How much exactly: mucho, poco, bastante, todo
Words for 'much', 'few' and 'all' do not behave alike: some agree with the noun, some do not. For example: “En mi clase hay muchos alumnos y pocos libros de texto” — There are many students in my class and few textbooks. A rule from the Spanish course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
Words for 'much', 'few' and 'all' do not behave alike: some agree with the noun, some do not.
Before a noun, mucho and poco change for gender and number: muchos alumnos, muchas clases, poco tiempo. After a verb the same mucho freezes: estudia mucho, duerme poco. The test is simple: a noun beside it means agreement, a bare verb means hands off.
Bastante changes for number but not for gender: bastantes alumnos, bastante paciencia. Demasiado changes for both: demasiados deberes, demasiada tarea.
The trap is todo, which needs an article after it. Not todo día but todo el día; todos los alumnos is 'all the pupils'. With no article todo means 'everything': lo sé todo.
Table
| word | agrees in | before a noun | after a verb |
|---|---|---|---|
| mucho | gender and number | muchas clases | estudia mucho |
| poco | gender and number | pocos alumnos | habla poco |
| bastante | number only | bastantes notas | come bastante |
| demasiado | gender and number | demasiada tarea | trabaja demasiado |
| todo | gender and number, plus the article | todo el curso | lo sabe todo |
| algún / ningún | gender and number | algún cuaderno | — |
| unos (about) | gender | unos veinte euros | — |
By example
- En mi clase hay muchos alumnos y pocos libros de textoThere are many students in my class and few textbooks
- Todos los días repaso la materia media horaEvery day I review the material for half an hour
- El control dura unos cuarenta minutos, más o menosThe test lasts some forty minutes, more or less
How the rule settles in your head
A rule is not memorized from an explanation. It is memorized from an attempt to use it and a mistake — that is why the app delivers it mixed in with words, not as a separate lesson: it resurfaces exactly where you forgot it.
Frequently asked
How much exactly: how does it work in Spanish?
Words for 'much', 'few' and 'all' do not behave alike: some agree with the noun, some do not.
What does it look like in an example sentence Spanish?
“En mi clase hay muchos alumnos y pocos libros de texto” — There are many students in my class and few textbooks. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.