Kilo Lingo
Spanish grammar Part of Chapter 36

CEFR B1-B2

6 min read

Test yourself (21 questions)

Spanish Quantifiers: mucho, poco, demasiado, todo, cada

By Michael McGettrick and Sergio Linares-HernandesUpdated 12 October 2026

Quantifiers say how much or how many. The trap is that , , , and agree with a noun but never change next to a verb or an adjective:

Quick check

Three quick questions on what you have just read. The full practice is further down.

Spot the mistake

0/3

Each sentence has one mistake. Tap it.

  • . - There are a lot of people.
  • . - He/She works a lot.

Quantifiers at a glance

The whole page on one screen. A coloured ending agrees; a boxed word never changes.

masculinefemininethe plural endingnever changesWhat do the colours mean?
WordSpanishEnglish
+ noun .There are a lot of people.
+ verb .He/She works a lot.
+ noun .I have few friends.
.It's too expensive.
.There are enough chairs.
every day
every two hours
a couple of days
.Most of my friends live abroad.
more than a hundred people

The family also lines up from nothing to too much:

How much?
NothingToo much
  1. nadanothing
  2. poconot much
  3. un pocoa little
  4. bastantequite a lot, enough
  5. muchoa lot
  6. demasiadotoo much

Agree or freeze: mucho, poco, demasiado

masculinefemininenever changesWhat do the colours mean?

One question decides the form: what does the word describe? A noun: it agrees in gender and number, like any adjective. A verb or an adjective: it never changes.

WordAgrees (noun)Never changes

Watch the same word do both jobs in one sentence:

  • , . - There are a lot of people, but they don't talk much.
  • . - We have too many problems and too little time.

The classic is agreeing the frozen one: " ". is not a noun here, so the word stays .

One more case: before or with a noun, still agrees with the noun:

  • . - There were a lot more people.
  • . - It's a lot more expensive.

Bastante, tanto and un poco

the plural endingnever changesWhat do the colours mean?

Three members of the family have a quirk each.

WordThe quirkExample
changes for number only
quite, before an adjective .
becomes before an adjective .
stays before , .
a little, never agrees .

already ends in -e, so it has no feminine form: , . Its plural is .

and are not the same. is negative (not much); is positive (a little):

  • . - He/She doesn't say much.
  • . - He/She speaks a bit of English.

The full story of and in comparisons is on correlative comparison.

Todo: the whole, every, everything

masculinefeminineWhat do the colours mean?

agrees fully and, before a noun, usually takes the article (or another determiner, as in , all my friends). Singular means the whole; plural means every:

FormSpanishEnglish
masc. singular all day
fem. singular all night
masc. plural every day
fem. plural every week

Two fixed uses to learn whole:

  • . - Everybody knows it. Singular verb: is one group.
  • . - I want it all. On its own, means everything.

Cada: each, and every two hours

masculinenever changesWhat do the colours mean?

never changes and takes a singular noun with no article:

SpanishEnglish
each day
each person
each time
each one
every two hours

The last row is the one job only can do: an interval with a number, where the noun is plural.

  • . - I take the pill every eight hours.

and both mean every day. takes the days one at a time, so it suits a change from day to day:

  • . - It gets colder every day.
  • . - I go to the gym every day.

Measure phrases: un par de, la mayoría de

Spanish has ready-made phrases for amounts, almost all built with :

PhraseSpanishEnglish
most people
half the students
loads of work
a couple of days
a dozen eggs
a of apples
a little water
some money
a few friends

and go with things you cannot count (water, money). and go with things you can (friends, days). agrees: .

feminineWhat do the colours mean?
On a table, a single smiling apple sits on a plate on the left, and three smiling apples share a plate on the right.

Una manzana: one apple. Unas cuantas manzanas: a few apples. Unos cuantos agrees with its noun, so the apples make it unas cuantas.

The verb after la mayoría de

is singular, but with and a plural noun most speakers make the verb plural. The singular is correct too, just less common:

VerbSpanishEnglish
plural .Most students work.
singular .Most students work.
plural .Half the books are mine.
plural .A couple of friends came to see me.

With both are heard ( or ); the singular is the safer choice in writing. With a singular noun the verb is singular: . - Most people work.

Más de or más que

de (an amount)que (a comparison)What do the colours mean?

"More than" splits on what comes next. A number or an amount takes ; a person or thing being compared takes :

What followsSpanishEnglish
a number more than a hundred people
an amount less than half
a person .He/She knows more than me.
a thing .He/She runs more than his/her brother.
a clause .It costs more than I thought.

One sentence can hold both: , . - There were more than a hundred people, more than last year.

The twist: in a negative sentence, no... means only:

  • . - I only have ten euros.
  • . - I have no more than ten euros.

Mistakes English speakers make

WrongRightWhy
it describes : never changes
it describes a verb: never changes
never agrees
with a noun, agrees
an interval takes
takes no article
is singular
a number takes

What to do next

  1. Before you write , find what it describes: noun or not.
  2. Do the village story and the sort below.
  3. Next door: indefinites (, , ) and comparatives.

Practise: test yourself

Complete the story

0/6

Choose the right form for each gap. Does the word describe a noun or a verb?

My grandmother's village

En el pueblo de mi abuela hay gente, pero perros. Mi abuela trabaja y duerme . Dice que hoy los jóvenes tienen problemas y que todo es caro.

Gap 1 of 6

Spot the mistake

0/4

Each sentence has one mistake. Tap it.

Sort into groups

0/6

Which word goes in front: cada, todos or todas?

Tap a word, then the group it belongs in.

Pick the right one

0/5

Choose the word that fits.

  1. Ella sabe yo. (more than me)

  2. Cuesta mil euros. (over a thousand euros)

  3. Habla de inglés. (a bit of English)

  4. el mundo lo sabe. (everybody)

  5. Hay sillas para todos. (enough chairs)

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Frequently asked questions

When does agree and when does it stay the same?
It depends on what . Next to a noun it agrees in gender and number: (a lot of people), (a lot of books), pocas (few houses). Next to a verb or an adjective it never changes: (he/she works a lot), (it's too expensive). Ask what the word describes: a noun means agree, anything else means leave it alone.
What is the difference between and ?
Both can mean every. never changes and takes a singular noun with no article: (each day), (each person). agrees and takes the article: (every day), (every week). Only counts intervals with a number: (every two hours), never .
Should the verb be singular or plural after ?
Both are correct. is singular, but with and a plural noun most speakers make the verb plural: (most students work). The singular, , is also correct, just less common. , and work the same way.
What is the difference between and ?
goes before a number or an amount: (more than a hundred people), (less than half). two things: (he/she knows more than me). The one twist is no... , which means only: euros (I only have ten euros).
What is the difference between and ?
is negative: not much. is positive: a little. means he/she doesn't say much; means he/she speaks a bit of English. Before an adjective never agrees: (I'm a bit tired), never .