MUY & MUCHO
Two very important Spanish words to remember are muy (MOOY), which means “very,” and mucho (MOO-choh), which means “a lot.” Beginning Spanish students sometimes get muy and mucho confused, so we will be looking at how and when to use each one.
Very well, thanks
Most beginning Spanish students will first encounter the word muy in the expression Muy bien, gracias (Very well, thanks), which is a polite way to answer the question ¿Cómo está? (How are You?*).
Muy (very) is an adverb, and can be used to modify both an adjective (which describes a noun) and another adverb (which describes the action of a verb). For example:
Muy with an adjective:
El libro es muy bueno. (The book is very good.)
La casa es muy bonita. (The house is very pretty.)
El museo es muy grande. (The museum is very big.)
La lección es muy difícil. (The lesson is very difficult.)
Muy with an adverb:
Habla muy rápido. (S/he speaks very quickly.)
Hablan muy despacio. (They speak slowly.)
Usted habla muy bien. (You speak very well.)
Habla muy mal. (S/he speaks very badly.)
Muy is invariable, so you don’t need to worry about changing its endings. It is actually quite simple to use, since most of the time, you use muy just as you would use the English word “very.”
Also, Spanish speakers often use the word muy in cases where English speakers might say “too” with an adjective or adverb (“too big,” “too fast,” “too late,” “too expensive,” etc.). The Spanish word demasiado / theh-mah-s’YAH-thoh can be translated to convey meaning of “way too much” in these cases, but often the simple word muy is preferred. For example:
Es muy caro. (It’s very expensive, It’s too expensive.)
Es muy tarde. (It’s very late, It’s too late.)
Much confusion (mucha confusión)
Even though muy is easy to use, beginning students sometimes mistakenly use mucho (a lot) instead, so they say things like “a lot pretty” or “a lot big,” instead of “very pretty” and “very big.”
To avoid this problem, you should first learn muy as “very.” Then learn mucho as “a lot” or “a lot of.” Mucho can also translate as “much” (and “many” in the plural), but you will understand the meaning of mucho better if at first you learn it as “a lot.”
Mucho changes endings to agree with the gender (masculine / feminine) and number (singular / plural) of the nouns it modifies or replaces.
The four forms of mucho are mucho, mucha, muchos, and muchas. Here are some examples of how and when to use mucho and its related forms.
Tengo mucho trabajo. (I have a lot of work.)
No quiero mucha leche. (I don’t want a lot of milk.)
Tienen muchos libros en la sala. (They have a lot of books in the room.)
Hay muchas niñas en la clase. (There are a lot of girls in the class.)
You will notice that mucho and mucha in the first two examples can translate as “much”: I have much work and I don’t want much milk.
However, the words muchos and muchas in the last two examples translate as “many”: They have many books in the room and There are many girls in the class.
The expression “a lot” is handy to use in the beginning, because it works well for both singular and plural translations.
When you think of mucho as meaning “a lot,” it’s easy to see how it makes sense in other contexts:
Habla mucho. (S/he talks a lot.)
Trabajo mucho. (I work a lot.)
La situación está mucho mejor. (The situation is a lot better, much better.)
When “very” is really “much”
There are certain translated constructions in which it may appear to the beginner that mucho means “very.” This is because Spanish sometimes uses the verb tener (to have and hold) to express states of being. For example, instead of “I’m hungry,” in Spanish you literally say “I have hunger” (Tengo hambre). Instead of “It’s successful,” in Spanish you say “It has success” (Tiene éxito).
If you want to express the English idea of “very hungry” or “very successful,” then you must speak of “much hunger” (mucha hambre) and “much success” (mucho éxito). In this way, it may appear that mucho means “very.” Keep in mind, however, that the Spanish sentence is really talking about “a lot of hunger” and “a lot of success.” This should help keep things straight for you.
Little (quantity)
The opposite of mucho (a lot) is poco / POH-coh (not much, little, few).
You may have seen poco (or its diminutive form poquito / poh-KEE-toh, which means “a tiny little bit”) in the expression Hablo un poco de español (I speak a little bit of Spanish).
You can use poco in the same manner in which you use mucho. Like mucho, poco also changes form to show gender and number: poco. poca, pocos, pocas. For example:
Tengo poco trabajo. (I have little work / not much work.)
Quiero poca leche. (I want little milk / just a little bit of milk.)
Tienen pocos libros. (They have few books.)
Hay pocas niñas en la clase. (There are few girls in the class.)
Habla poco. (S/he talks little / S/he doesn’t talk much.)
Trabajo poco. (I work little / I don’t work very much.)
Please note that poco means little in quantity. It does not mean “small sized” (for that you use pequeño peh-KEHN-yoh or chico / CHEE-coh) or “younger” (for that you use menor / meh-NOHRR)
Also, remember that pocos and pocas mean “few,” but when you are comparing quantities, you use the word menos /MEH-nohss to say “fewer.” For example:
Tienen menos libros en la sala.
(There are fewer* books in the room.)
Hay menos niñas en la clase.
(There are fewer* girls in the class.)
*Many American English speakers say “less” in these instances, but “fewer” is grammatically correct. Do not confuse “fewer” (menos) with “few” (pocos, pocas).
You can read more about menos (less, fewer) in the previous lesson on más (more).
Very, very much
You can translate “very little” as muy poco and “very few” as muy pocos. However, you can’t put muy in front of mucho to mean “very much.” It just doesn’t work that way.
In order to say something is more than “a lot,” you can use the absolute superlative ending –ísimo (EE-see-moh), which expresses a high degree of quality, without making a comparison.
So “very, very much” is muchísimo (moo-CHEE-see-moh). Or, if mucho can translate as “a lot,” then muchísimo can also translate as “tons.”
Me gusta muchísimo. (It pleases me / I like it very, very much.)
Tienen muchísimo dinero. (They have tons of money.)
Muchísimo has different endings for gender and number just like mucho, so you may see muchísimo, muchísima, muchísimos and muchísimas.
You can also put the –ísimo (EE-see-moh) ending on poco, to create the word poquísimo (poquísima, poquísimos, poquísimas), which means “extremely little or few.”
Expressions and sayings with muy and mucho:
Muy de noche
Literal translation: Very of night.
Meaning: Very late at night.
¡Mucho ojo!
Literal translation: Much eye!
Meaning: Watch out! Be careful!
English equivalent: Keep your eyes peeled. Watch your step.
Mucho gusto.
Literal translation: Much pleasure.
Meaning: It’s a pleasure to meet you, Nice to meet you.
Mucho trabajo, poco dinero.
Meaning: A lot of work, little money.
Context: Popular expression.
Bésame, bésame mucho…
Meaning: Kiss me, kiss me a lot…
Context: Opening line of famous love song.
Con mucho, mucho, mucho, mucho amor.
Meaning: With much, much, much love.
Context: Sign-off words of Walter Mercado, famous astrologer & TV personality from Puerto Rico.
Remember it!
Muy and very both end in “y.”
For practice, say some English sentences with the word “very,” but substitute the word muy: “He’s muy nice.” “The house is muy big.” “It’s muy late.” “You’re muy kind.” This will reinforce in your mind when you should use muy.
The word mucho will be easy enough to understand because it looks like “much,” but remember that in the plural it can also translate as “many.” To keep things easy at first, learn it as “a lot.” Much is a lot, after all.
The word poco is related to the English word “paucity,” which means “shortage.” “Paucity” is probably not a word you use every day, so if you are a beginner, you may prefer to remember poco in the expression un poco / oon POH-coh (a little bit), which is an appropriate answer to the question ¿Habla español? (Do You speak Spanish?)
Sí, un poco. (Yes, a little bit.)
So remember…
muy / MOOY (very)
mucho / MOO-choh (a lot, much, many)
poco / POH-coh (a little, little, few)
More Spanish Lessons!
For more Spanish lessons, including free handouts and videos, see Spanish that Works for You.
*NOTE: The words “You” and “Your” are often capitalized in Spanish that Works™ to remind you that you are using the polite forms usted (You) and su (Your), and not the “buddy-buddy” forms tú (you) and tu (your). The polite forms are more appropriate for customer service situations, and simplify the verb conjugations for the beginner. The “dd” in the pronunciation guide is a tapped “r,” similar to the fast “dd” of the word “buddy,” and the “th” in the guide is the voiced “th” of “brother.” The “eh” of the guide is like “eh?”, similar to the “a” of “gate.” You should stress the syllable written in all caps. For more information, visit the SpanishThatWorksOrg YouTube channel.
*This post was originally published as a lesson in the the Spanish that Works Review newsletter – November 2004 by Elizabeth Almann
