Spanish Quantities: Mucho, Poco, Bastante, and Un Poco de

In this lesson, you will learn four common Spanish quantity expressions: — a lot of / much, — little / few, — enough / quite a lot of, — a little bit of.

You will use them with familiar food and drink vocabulary so that you can describe how much of something there is or how much you want.

Using mucho for a large quantity

Use before a masculine singular noun when the quantity is large.

— a lot of rice
— a lot of bread
— a lot of cheese
— a lot of coffee

With a feminine singular noun, changes to mucha.

— a lot of water
— a lot of milk
— a lot of soup
— a lot of pasta

Using muchos and muchas with plural nouns

With plural nouns, agrees in number and gender.

— many tomatoes
— many eggs
— many strawberries
— many apples

The four forms are , mucha, muchos, and muchas.

Using poco for a small quantity

Use before a masculine singular noun when the quantity is small.

— little rice
— little bread
— little cheese
— little coffee

With a feminine singular noun, use poca.

— little water
— little milk
— little soup
— little pasta

Using pocos and pocas with plural nouns

With plural nouns, also agrees in gender and number.

— few tomatoes
— few eggs
— few strawberries
— few apples

The four forms are , poca, pocos, and pocas.

Comparing mucho and poco

Spanish	English
	a lot of rice
	little rice
	many strawberries
	few strawberries

expresses a large quantity. expresses a small quantity.

Using bastante with singular nouns

can mean enough or quite a lot of, depending on context.

— enough / quite a lot of rice
— enough / quite a lot of bread
— enough / quite a lot of water
— enough / quite a lot of milk

does not change for masculine or feminine singular nouns.

Using bastantes with plural nouns

With plural nouns, changes to bastantes.

— enough / quite a lot of tomatoes
— enough / quite a lot of eggs
— enough / quite a lot of strawberries
— enough / quite a lot of apples

The main contrast is for singular or uncounted nouns and bastantes for plural nouns.

Using un poco de for “a little bit of”

Use un de before a noun when you want to express a small amount without changing the phrase for gender.

— a little bit of rice
— a little bit of bread
— a little bit of water
— a little bit of milk
— a little bit of cheese

The phrase un de stays unchanged.

Comparing poco and un poco de

both describe small quantities, but they do not feel identical.

— little coffee / not much coffee
— a little coffee / a little bit of coffee
— little milk / not much milk
— a little milk / a little bit of milk

often emphasizes that the quantity is small. Un de simply asks for or describes a small amount.

Using quantity expressions with querer

You can combine these quantity expressions with querer.

— I want a lot of rice.
— I want little soup.
— I want enough / quite a lot of water.
— I want a little bit of cheese.

The quantity expression comes before the noun.

Using quantity expressions with familiar foods

— I want a lot of salad.
— I want few tomatoes.
— I want enough / quite a lot of strawberries.
— I want a little bit of bread.

Choose the form that agrees with the noun when agreement is required.

Using con and sin together with quantities

You can combine the quantity language from this lesson with con and sin from the previous lesson.

— I want salad with a lot of tomato.
— I want pasta with little cheese.
— I want rice with enough / quite a lot of chicken.
— I want coffee with a little milk.

The quantity phrase describes the ingredient that follows it.

Asking for a little of something

Un de is especially useful for a polite small quantity request.

— I want a little water, please.
— I want a little bread, please.
— I want a little milk, please.

Describing how much you eat or drink

and can also appear after a verb when the noun is already understood or not stated.

— I eat a lot.
— I eat little.
— I drink a lot.
— I drink little.

In this use, and describe the amount of the action rather than agreeing with a following noun.

Comparing quantity before a noun and after a verb

Compare:

— I drink a lot of water.
— I drink a lot.
— I eat little meat.
— I eat little.

Before a noun, and agree with that noun. Without a following noun, use or as the basic adverbial form.

Choosing the correct form with a noun

Use the noun to decide which form you need.

Noun type	Mucho	Poco
masculine singular
feminine singular	mucha	poca
masculine plural	muchos	pocos
feminine plural	muchas	pocas

has only singular and plural bastantes. Un de does not change.

A short food conversation

Person A: — What do you want?

Person B: — I want rice with a lot of chicken and a little tomato.

Person A: — And to drink?

Person B: — I want enough / quite a lot of water.

A second short conversation

Person A: — Do you want a lot of coffee?

Person B: — No. I want little coffee with a little milk.

This contrast uses before café before leche.

A practical quantity method

When you describe quantity, use this sequence:

Decide whether the quantity is large, small, sufficient, or simply a little bit.
Choose , , , or un de.
If you use or before a noun, match gender and number.
If you use before a plural noun, use bastantes.

From quantities to reading Spanish menus

You can now use , , , to describe quantities of familiar food and drinks. The next lesson applies your food vocabulary to reading Spanish menus and identifying dishes and prices.