Quantities of things or actions can be large or small.

The idea

Mucho expresses a large quantity; poco expresses a small one. Before nouns they agree in gender and number; after a verb they stay unchanged.

Patterns to compare
CantidadFormas
mucha cantidadmucho / mucha / muchos / muchas
poca cantidadpoco / poca / pocos / pocas

Examples

  • Hay mucha agua.There is a lot of water.
  • Hay poco pan.There is little bread.
  • Tenemos muchas manzanas.We have many apples.
  • Veo pocos coches.I see few cars.
  • Los niños duermen mucho.The children sleep a lot.
  • Hoy trabajo poco.Today I work little.

Read-aloud uses a synthetic Spanish voice available on your device. Voice quality and availability vary; it does not assess your pronunciation.

Watch out

Do not use singular mucho with plural libros: use muchos libros.

Try it yourself

  1. The bottle contains a large quantity of milk. En la botella hay gran cantidad de leche: hay ___ leche. (mucha / poca)

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    mucha

    mucha: milk is feminine singular.

  2. There are only two books on the table. En la mesa hay solo dos libros: hay ___ libros. (muchos / pocos)

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    pocos

    pocos: the masculine plural noun is books.

  3. The baby sleeps ten hours. El bebé duerme diez horas: duerme ___. (mucho / poco)

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    mucho

    mucho: the word modifies the verb and stays unchanged.

Use it today

Describe the quantity of food and time you have.