Very, a lot, too much, probably
English 'very' splits in two, and this is every beginner's first mistake. Muy stands only before an adjective or adverb: muy interesante, muy bien, muy cerca. Mucho — only after a verb or before a noun: corre mucho, me gusta mucho, mucho trabajo. Muy mucho is impossible, and so is me gusta muy: each has its own place, and there is no third option. For example: “El partido fue muy bueno, pero corrimos demasiado”…
How it works
English 'very' splits in two, and this is every beginner's first mistake. Muy stands only before an adjective or adverb: muy interesante, muy bien, muy cerca. Mucho — only after a verb or before a noun: corre mucho, me gusta mucho, mucho trabajo. Muy mucho is impossible, and so is me gusta muy: each has its own place, and there is no third option.
Before a noun, mucho behaves like a quantity and agrees: mucho ruido, mucha gente, muchos invitados, muchas fotos. After a verb it freezes into the form mucho forever: ella trabaja mucho, not 'mucha'. Bastante (quite, enough) and demasiado (too) are built the same way: before an adjective they never change — bastante caro, demasiado grande — but before a noun they take gender and number: bastantes sillas, demasiada sal.
Certainty is the second row of adverbs, and it is about the speaker's confidence. Claro and por supuesto — 'of course', agreement without reservations. Seguro — 'definitely'. Quizás and a lo mejor — 'maybe', and the difference between them is grammatical: after a lo mejor comes the ordinary present (a lo mejor viene), while quizás drags the verb into subjuntivo (quizás venga). For now it is enough to recognize that quizás demands a special verb form; the details live in the note on complex sentences.
And a household remark: a Spaniard rarely answers a bare 'sí'. Claro, por supuesto, vale, desde luego — agreement with a shade of tone. A bare 'sí' to a request sounds curt, almost like a refusal to help.
Table
| word | where it stands | does it agree | example |
|---|---|---|---|
| muy | before an adjective or adverb | no | muy interesante |
| mucho | after a verb | no | me gusta mucho |
| mucho / mucha | before a noun | yes | mucha gente |
| bastante | before both | only before a noun | bastantes sillas |
| demasiado | before both | only before a noun | demasiada sal |
| quizás | before a verb | no, but it demands subjuntivo | quizás venga |
| claro | as a reply of its own | no | ¡Claro que sí! |
By example
- El partido fue muy bueno, pero corrimos demasiadoThe match was very good, but we ran too much
- Hay bastante gente en el museo y mucho ruidoThere are quite a lot of people in the museum and a lot of noise
- ¿Vienes a la feria? — Claro, quizás llegue tardeAre you coming to the fair? — Of course, though I may be late
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
Very, a lot, too much, probably: how does it work in Spanish?
English 'very' splits in two, and this is every beginner's first mistake. Muy stands only before an adjective or adverb: muy interesante, muy bien, muy cerca. Mucho — only after a verb or before a noun: corre mucho, me gusta mucho, mucho trabajo. Muy mucho is impossible, and so is me gusta muy…
What does it look like in an example sentence Spanish?
“El partido fue muy bueno, pero corrimos demasiado” — The match was very good, but we ran too much. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.