Adjetivos de cantidad
640 ejercicios de huecos, 64 tests de diez
Palabras que dicen cuánto o cuántos. La elección depende de si el sustantivo se puede contar.
Practica esta forma
Cargando…
Preparando tu primera pregunta.
Contable o no
Todo lo de esta página depende de esa única pregunta. Books, chairs, people se pueden contar. Water, advice, traffic, money no.
- many, a few, few, how many van con contables
- much, a little, little, how much van con incontables
- a lot of, plenty of, some, any, enough, no van con los dos
much en frases afirmativas
Much está en su sitio en negativas y preguntas, y suena rígido en afirmativas:
I don’t have much time. ✓ Do you have much time? ✓ I have much time. ✗ — mejor a lot of time.
Many no tiene ese problema: many people vale en cualquier sitio.
a few o few
Quitar el artículo le da la vuelta al tono:
- a few friends — varios, y está bien
- few friends — pocos, y es una pena
Lo mismo con a little y little:
- *We have a little time. — suficiente para algo
- *We have little time. — casi nada
En el habla corriente, few y little solos suenan formales; la gente dice not many y not much.
enough
Va delante de un sustantivo y detrás de un adjetivo:
enough money, pero warm enough
Dónde se tuerce para un hispanohablante
how much y how many no existen separados en español, donde «cuánto/cuántos» solo cambia por concordancia. En inglés la diferencia es de tipo de sustantivo, y hay que mirarlo cada vez.
«Poco» y «un poco» también se distinguen en español, así que la pareja few/a few se entiende: «tengo pocos amigos» frente a «tengo unos pocos amigos aquí».
Y «hay mucho tráfico» es There is a lot of traffic, no much traffic: en afirmativas el inglés prefiere a lot of.
Todas las formas
| Significado | Contable | Incontable | Los dos |
|---|---|---|---|
| mucha cantidad | many | much | a lot of, plenty of |
| poca cantidad | a few | a little | some |
| casi nada | few | little | hardly any |
| nada | no | no | no, not any |
| la cantidad justa | enough | enough | enough |
| preguntar | how many | how much | — |
Ejemplos
Tomados de las 640 frases de este ejercicio. La respuesta va resaltada.
- There is only enough space available in the parking lot.
- She ate some of the ice cream on her own.
- There were many cars parked in front of the building.
- They ate half of the pizza at the party and took the rest home in a box.
- The children picked numerous apples from the orchard and filled every basket.
- They received all of the votes in the election, and the other party got none.
- She finished reading the whole book in one day.
- I only have few friends who understand me.
- I need to buy a few groceries for the party.
- I bought several apples from the grocery store.
- We only have little milk left in the fridge.
- Tom has more pencils than Jane.
Errores que evitar
Incorrecto: How much books do you have? correcto: How many books do you have?
Books se puede contar, así que how many.
Incorrecto: I have a little friends here. correcto: I have a few friends here.
Friends es contable, así que a few.
Incorrecto: There is much traffic today. correcto: There is a lot of traffic today.
Much es raro en una frase afirmativa. A lot of es la opción natural.