Have you ever said things like "tengo muy frío" instead of tengo mucho frío [I'm cold]? Or "esa casa es grande mucha" instead of esa casa es muy grande [that house is very big]? This kind of indefinite words are sometimes tricky for Spanish learners. But don't worry! In this article, you will learn how to use the Spanish indefinite words mucho, mucha, muchos, muchas and muy like a native speaker (in particular with the word frío).
What is mucho?
It’s helpful to know that the word mucho belongs to two different kinds of words. On one hand, it works as an adjective and, on the other hand, as an adverb.
And it is also important to know the differences between these kinds of words:
● Adjectives are words that we use to complement nouns.
● Adverbs are words that we use to complement verbs, adjectives, and also other adverbs.
Using mucho with Nouns
As an adjective, mucho has 4 forms:
• mucho is masculine - singular
• mucha is feminine - singular
• muchos is masculine - plural
• muchas is feminine - plural
This means that we use
● mucho to complement a masculine - singular noun
● mucha to complement a feminine - singular noun
● muchos to complement a masculine - plural noun
● muchas to complement a feminine - plural noun
Since these words express a large quantity:
-the singular forms mucho and mucha are used with uncountable nouns and can be translated as much or a lot of in English.
-the plural forms muchos and muchas are used with countable nouns and can be translated as many or a lot of in English.
So we would say, for example:
● He bebido mucho zumo. [I’ve drunk much / a lot of juice.]
● He bebido mucha agua. [I’ve drunk much / a lot of water.]
● He comido muchos tomates. [I’ve eaten many / a lot of tomatoes.]
● He comido muchas uvas. [I’ve eaten many / a lot of grapes.]
The same as other indefinite adjectives such as poco [little, few], bastante [enough] or demasiado [too much], we normally use the adjective mucho before the noun it complements.
Using mucho with Verbs
As an adverb, mucho complements verbs.
In this case, it is invariable (we don’t use mucha, muchos, nor muchas), and can be translated as much or a lot in English.
● He comido mucho. [I’ve eaten much / a lot.]
It’s important to be aware of what it is that we are quantifying.
Compare these examples:
● Tengo muchas guitarras. [I’ve got many / a lot of guitars.]
In this case we are quantifying how many guitars we have, so we use the feminine - plural adjective.
● Toco mucho la guitarra. [I play guitar a lot.]
In this case we are quantifying how much we play the guitar, so we use the invariable adverb.
Using muy with Adjectives
As an adverb, mucho also complements adjectives, but we normally use the short form muy [very] in that case.
For example:
● Antonio es muy amable. [Antonio is very kind.]
● Laura es muy alta. [Laura is very tall.]
● Estos platos son muy bonitos. [These plates are very nice.]
● Las habitaciones están muy limpias. [The rooms are very clean.]
Notice that the gender and the number of the adjectives don’t affect muy at all, since it is invariable.
In cases when we don’t need to include the adjective, because if has already been said, we use the full form mucho.
To the question:
• Es amable Antonio? [Is Antonio kind?]
We could reply:
• Sí, muy amable. [Yes, very kind.]
Or:
• Sí, mucho. [Yes, a lot.]
Again, since mucho is in this case an adverb, it’s invariable and isn’t affected by the gender and the number of the adjective:
To the question:
• ¿Están limpias las habitaciones? [Are the rooms clean?]
We could reply:
• Sí, muy limpias. [Yes, very clean.]
Or:
• Sí, mucho. [Yes, a lot.]
Be careful with the Spanish word "frío"
Frío [cold] is a challenging word for learners that haven't mastered these ideas yet, because it can be both a noun and an adjective.
We use it as a noun in common expressions such as:
● Hace frío. [It's cold.] [Literally "it makes cold".]
● Tengo frío. [I'm cold.] [Literally "I have cold".]
We use it as an adjective to modify a masculine - singular noun:
● El café está frío. [The coffee is cold.]
So, if we add the indefinite adjective, we would use mucho, the masculine-singular form of the adjective, to modify the masculine-singular noun :
• Hace mucho frío. [It's very cold.] [Literally "it makes a lot of cold".]
• Tengo mucho frío. [I'm very cold.] [Literally "I have a lot of cold".]
But we would use muy, the short form of the adverb, to modify the adjective:
• El café está muy frío. [The coffee is very cold.]
Using muy with Adverbs
As an adverb, mucho also complements other adverbs, but we normally use the short form muy in that case too.
For example:
• Antonio anda muy lentamente. [Antonio walks very slowly.]
• Volveré muy pronto. [I will return very soon.]
• Nuestra casa está muy cerca. [Our house is very near.]
• Laura canta muy bien. [Laura sings very well.]
Exceptions
Now that we have seen the basic ways in which you can use the Spanish indefinite words mucho, mucha, muchos, muchas and muy, it's time to see some exceptions.
There are some exceptions when we are using some comparative adverbs and adjectives.
1. Using mucho with antes and después
We use mucho before the adverbs antes [earlier / before] and después [later / afterwards].
• Yo he llegado mucho antes. [I’ve arrived much earlier.]
• Tú has llegado mucho después. [You’ve arrived much later.]
2. Using mucho with mejor and peor
We use mucho before mejor [better] and peor [worse], whether they are used as adjectives (superlative forms of the adjectives of bueno and malo) or as adverbs (superlative forms of the adverbs bien and mal).
• Laura canta mucho mejor que yo. [Laura sings much better than me.]
• Mi coche es mucho peor que el tuyo. [My car is much worse than yours.]
3. Using mucho with más and menos
3. We use mucho before más and menos when they are used as adverbs, but we use muchos, muchas, muchos, and muchas, when they are used as adjectives.
For example, we say:
• Yo como mucho más que tú. [I eat much more than you.]
• Yo como mucho menos que tú. [I eat much less than you.]
Because here mucho más and mucho menos are adverbs that complement the verb como [I eat].
We say:
• Tú casa está mucho más limpia que la mía. [Your house is much cleaner than mine.]
• Tú casa está mucho menos limpia que la mía. [Your house is much less cleaner than mine.]
Because here mucho más and mucho menos are adverbs that complement the adjective limpia [clean].
But we say:
• He bebido mucho más zumo que tú. [I’ve drunk much more juice than you.]
• He bebido mucha más agua que tú. [I’ve drunk much more water than you.]
• He comido muchos más tomates que tú. [I’ve eaten many more tomatoes than you.]
• He comido muchas más uvas que tú. [I’ve eaten many more grapes than you.]
And:
• He bebido mucho menos zumo que tú. [I’ve drunk much less juice than you.]
• He bebido mucha menos agua que tú. [I’ve drunk much less water than you.]
• He comido muchos menos tomates que tú. [I’ve eaten far less tomatoes than you.]
• He comido muchas menos uvas que tú. [I’ve eaten far less grapes than you.]
Because here mucho más, mucho menos, mucha más, mucha menos, muchos más, muchos menos, muchas más and muchas menos are adjectives that complement the nouns zumo [juice], agua [water], tomates [tomatoes] and uvas [grapes] respectively.
4. Using mucho with mayor and menor
We use mucho before the comparative adjectives mayor [bigger / older] and menor [smaller / younger].
• Juan es mucho mayor que Luis. [Juan is much older than Luis.]
• Ana es mucho menor que Laura. [Ana is much younger than Ana.]
However, mayor often means just old. In that case, we use muy:
• Juan es muy mayor. [Juan is very old.]
I hope that you now know how to use the Spanish indefinite words mucho, mucha, muchos, muchas and muy. With a little bit of practice, you will be using them like a Spanish native speaker.
If you have questions, requests or suggestions, don't hesitate to ask.
