Use of cuánto, mucho and poco
Basic Grammar Cuánto, Mucho & Poco
Short summary
In Spanish, we can use cuánto, cuánta, cuántos, cuántas to ask questions about how much of something.
In Spanish, we can use cuánto, cuánta, cuántos, cuántas to ask questions about how much of something.
We use mucho, mucha, muchos, muchas and poco, poca, pocos, pocas to describe how much of something.
We use these words to describe nouns and verbs. However, we’ll only use cuánto, mucho, and poco to describe verbs.
Cuánto With Nouns
When we want to know how much or how many of something, we’ll use cuánto, cuánta, cuántos, cuántas in questions.
When we want to know how much or how many of something, we’ll use cuánto, cuánta, cuántos, cuántas in questions.
- •Cuánto and cuánta mean: “How much?” (sometimes “how many”)1
-
¿Cuánta hambre tienes?
How hungry are you? (How much hunger do you have?)
¿Cuánto pelo ha perdido su papá?
How much hair has his dad lost?
¿Cuánta gente fue a la boda?
How many people went to the wedding?
¿Cuánto tiempo hace que ustedes quieren mudarse?
How long have you all wanted to move for?
(How much time does it make that you all want to move)
•Cuántos and cuántas mean: “How many?”
-
¿Cuántos tacos piensas comer?
How many tacos do you plan on eating?
¿Cuántos niños están en tu clase?
How many children are in your class?
¿Cuántas camisas compraste?
How many shirts did you buy?
¿Cuántas computadoras tienes?
How many computers do you have?
Because cuánto, cuánta, cuántos, cuántas describe nouns, we must make sure they match in gender and number.2
Mucho and Poco with Nouns
We use mucho, mucha, muchos, muchas and poco, poca, pocos, pocas to describe how much or how many of something.
- •mucho (a lot of, much)
-
No pueden acompañarnos porque no tienen mucho dinero.
They can’t go with us because they don’t have much money.
¡Vaya Susana! Tienes mucha ropa.
Wow Susana! You have a lot of clothes/clothing.
Esteban tiene muchos amigos.
Esteban has a lot of friends.
No teníamos nada que hacer así que leímos muchas revistas.
We didn’t have anything to do so (as a result) we read a lot of magazines.
•poco (a little, few)
-
¡No tengas tan poca fe!
Don’t have so little faith!
Juan tiene muy poco dinero.
Juan has a very little bit of money.
Hay algunos en el mundo que tienen pocos recursos.
There are some (people) in the world that have few resources.
En pocas palabras, te digo lo que siento.
In a few words, I’ll tell you what I am feeling.
With Verbs
We can also use cuánto, mucho, and poco with verbs.
We can also use cuánto, mucho, and poco with verbs.
-
¿Cuánto cuesta la casa?
How much does the house cost?
¿Cuánto le ayudas a tu esposa con los quehaceres?
How much do you help your wife with the chores?
Victoria se queja mucho.
They play volleyball a lot.
El que mucho habla poco hace.
He that talks a lot, does little.
El chocolate no engorda si comemos poco.
Chocolate isn’t fattening if we eat little.
Notas:
1. We use ‘cuánto’ and ‘cuánta’ with non-count nouns. These are nouns that are singular (1) but they have a plural (2+) meaning.
ex: el dinero (money), el pelo (hair), la gente (people), el agua (water), la ropa (clothing), etc
2. See lesson on gender and number here. For a chart that breaks down the gender of nouns, go here
1. We use ‘cuánto’ and ‘cuánta’ with non-count nouns. These are nouns that are singular (1) but they have a plural (2+) meaning.
ex: el dinero (money), el pelo (hair), la gente (people), el agua (water), la ropa (clothing), etc
2. See lesson on gender and number here. For a chart that breaks down the gender of nouns, go here
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