How much exactly: mucho, poco, todo, alguno
The words 'many', 'few', 'all' and 'some' are called quantifiers, and they share one big trap: some agree with the noun, others 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
The words 'many', 'few', 'all' and 'some' are called quantifiers, and they share one big trap: some agree with the noun, others do not.
Mucho and poco before a noun are adjectives, and they change for gender and number: muchos alumnos, muchas clases, poco tiempo, pocas notas. The same mucho after a verb is an adverb, and then it freezes: estudia mucho, duerme poco. The test is simple: if there is a noun nearby — agree; if only a verb — leave it alone.
Bastante means 'enough' and 'quite a lot' at once — it changes for number but not for gender: bastantes alumnos, bastante paciencia. Demasiado — 'too much', and it agrees all the way: demasiados deberes, demasiada tarea.
Todo demands an article after it, and this is the spot where the English habit of saying 'all day' with no article trips you up: not todo día but todo el día — 'all day'; todos los alumnos — 'all the students'. Without the article todo means 'everything' in general: lo sé todo.
'Some' and 'none' have short forms before a masculine singular noun: algún cuaderno, ningún error — the final -o drops off, leaving an accent behind. And remember the double negation: no tengo ningún libro — the no is obligatory; Spanish is not embarrassed by two negatives.
Approximation comes three ways: unos veinte alumnos — 'some twenty students', alrededor de cien euros — 'around a hundred euros', más o menos a las cinco — 'around five o'clock'. The first is the most colloquial, and unos there is not the article but exactly 'about'.
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?
The words 'many', 'few', 'all' and 'some' are called quantifiers, and they share one big trap: some agree with the noun, others 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.