Recursio
Lesson 29. Very and a lot
10 words in this lesson
Tap 🔊 and repeat out loud. These words come back in the dialogue and the exercises below.
muy + adjective; mucho with verbs and nouns
Muy or mucho
- muy — “very,” before an adjective or adverb: muy bonito, muy cerca, muy despacio, muy bien.
- mucho — “a lot, much,” with a verb, after it: Trabajo mucho. “I like it a lot” — me gusta mucho.
Muy needs an adjective or adverb after it. So the short answer to ¿Te gusta? is Sí, mucho — “Yes, a lot.”
Mucho with a noun
Before a noun, mucho means “a lot of, much, many” and agrees with the noun, like the adjectives in lesson 11:
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| masc. | mucho ruido | muchos amigos |
| fem. | mucha gente | muchas casas |
English splits much and many; Spanish uses one word that changes its ending. Poco / poca / pocos / pocas works the same way: poca gente — “not many people.” With a verb it doesn’t change: Duermo poco.
Poco and un poco (lesson 7) differ, just like little and a little: duermo poco — “I don’t sleep much,” un poco — “a little.”
Bastante and demasiado
- bastante — “quite; enough”: bastante tranquilo.
- demasiado — “too; too much”: demasiado ruido.
Words in this lesson
- la gente — “people,” but grammatically it’s a feminine singular noun: la gente es simpática — “people are nice.”
- bien / mal — “well / badly”: muy bien, muy mal.
- Muchas gracias — “thank you very much”: learn it as a set phrase.
Es muy bonito. — It's very pretty.
Trabajo mucho. — I work a lot.
Hay mucha gente. — There are a lot of people.
Duermo poco. — I don't sleep much.
Hay demasiado ruido. — There's too much noise.
Dialogue
Listen to each line and repeat it. Try to understand it before you look at the translation.
Lucía ¡Hay mucha gente en el centro! There are so many people downtown!
Javier Sí, y mucho ruido. Yes, and lots of noise.
Lucía ¿Estás cansado? Hablas muy despacio. Are you tired? You're talking very slowly.
Javier Sí. Trabajo mucho y duermo poco. Yes. I work a lot and don't sleep much.
Lucía Hay demasiado ruido aquí. El parque está muy cerca. It's too noisy here. The park is very close.
Javier ¿Es tranquilo? Is it quiet?
Lucía Sí, bastante tranquilo. Yes, quite quiet.
Javier ¡Muy bien! Vamos al parque. Great! Let's go to the park.
Check yourself
Listen. What did you hear?
1. How do you say “very pretty”?
2. How do you say “I work a lot”?
3. How do you say “a lot of people”?
4. “¿Te gusta el queso?” How do you answer “Yes, a lot”?
Match each word with its translation
Build the sentence: “It's very pretty”
Build the sentence: “There are a lot of people”
What you can do now
- Make an adjective stronger: Es muy bonito. Está muy cerca.
- Say a lot and not much: Trabajo mucho. Duermo poco.
- Say a lot of people: Hay mucha gente.
- Say quite and too: bastante tranquilo, demasiado ruido
Key phrases of the lesson:
Es muy bonito.
Trabajo mucho.
Hay mucha gente.
Day 29 of 100. Next up: the following lesson.
Lesson 30. Module 6 review and test →The course is the first step. Next comes the Recursio app: short daily practice with spaced review.