Tuesday, 7 February 2012

TOO DIFFICULT, TOO MANY QUESTIONS, TOO MUCH TIME

Demasiado + adjective/adverb = TOO + adjective/adverb:
The fur coat is too expensive.
Question number four is too difficult.
These shoes are too big.
She speaks too quickly.

Demasiado "a secas" = TOO MUCH:
Don Quijote read too much.
I love her too much. (A strange thing to say, but it's possible)

Demasiado + uncountable noun = TOO MUCH + u. noun
He eats too much fruit / cereal.
She drinks too much milk.
There was too much traffic.
He gave us too much homework.
Some politicians earn too much money.

Demasiado + countable noun = TOO MANY + c. noun
She invited too many people.
Do you think there are too many children in this class?
Don't eat too many sweets!

An exception: He gave away too many clothes, and now he's got none. "Clothes" is actually not countable, but it is a special word, because it is both uncountable and plural (something rather unusual). TOO MUCH is never used with plurals, so we say too many clothes.

Common mistakes:
There was too much people >>> There were too many people. ("People" is countable AND plural)
It was too much hot / small, etc. >>> It was too hot / small, etc.  (¡Ni TOO MUCH ni TOO MANY: no acompaña a ningún sustantivo!)

2 comments:

  1. Could I say "I eat too much milk"?

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    Replies
    1. No, you can't. It was a mistake in my original post. You don't EAT milk, you DRINK it! So you would say "I drink too much milk".

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