In Italian we have a variety of ways to say ‘a lot’ and ‘many’. The two most common of these are molto and tanto, so let’s begin by looking at how we use them.

1. molto and tanto used as adjectives

Molto/a/i/e is an adjective meaning ‘much, many, a lot of, lots of’ and as you can see, it changes ending depending on on the number and gender of the noun that follows it:

c’è molta (feminine singular) neve sulle montagne = There’s a lot of snow on the mountains

non abbiamo molto (masculine singular) tempo = we don’t have much time

ci sono molte (feminine plural) mele sull’albero = there are a lot of apples on the tree

ho speso molti (masculine plural) soldi per il nuovo televisore = I spent a lot of money on the new TV

Tanto/a/i/e has the same meaning as molto:

c’è tanta (feminine singular) neve sulle montagne = There’s a lot of snow on the mountains

non abbiamo tanto (masculine singular) tempo = we don’t have much time

ci sono tante (feminine plural) mele sull’albero = there are a lot of apples on the tree

ho speso tanti (masculine plural) soldi per il nuovo televisore = I spent a lot of money on the new TV

However, tanto sometimes has a more emphatic feeling to it than molto, as you can see from the following examples:

ho mangiato molti cioccolatini as opposed to ho mangiato tanti cioccolatini = I ate a lot of chocolates as opposed to I ate loads of chocolates

Maria ha molti gatti as opposed to Maria ha tanti gatti = Maria has a lot of cats as opposed to Maria has loads of cats

Therefore there are situations when we prefer to use  tanto instead of molto, such as when telling someone off: Ti ho detto tante volte di non toccare le forbici! (I told you lots of times not to touch the scissors!)

2. molto and tanto used as adverbs

Both molto and tanto are used as adverbs with an adjective, a verb, or another adverb. In this case they both mean ‘very’, ‘very much’, or ‘a lot’. N.B. when used as adverbs they don’t change their ending but remain in the masculine singular form, i.e. molto, tanto:

questa torta è molto / tanto buona = this cake is very good

grazie, siete stati molto / tanto gentili = thank you, you were very kind

oggi ho lavorato molto / tanto = today I worked a lot

abbiamo studiato molto / tanto per passare l’esame = we studied a lot in order to pass the test

non mi sento molto / tanto bene = I don’t feel very well

Superlatives:

We can give greater emphasis to both molto and tanto by adding the suffix -issimo/-issima/-issimi/-issime.

However, we can only use this form as an adjective:

c’era moltissima (feminine singular) gente alla festa = there were loads of people at the party

ci sono tantissimi (masculine plural) fichi quest’anno = there are loads of figs this year

or as an adverb with a verb:

oggi ho lavorato moltissimo / tantissimo = today I worked really hard

abbiamo studiato moltissimo / tantissimo per passare l’esame = we really studied a lot in order to pass the test

N.B. we can’t say: questa torta è moltissimo / tantissimo buona (more about this in my next blog on the topic).

I’ll follow this blog up in a few days by looking at the many colloquial ways in which we say ‘many’, ‘a lot’, ‘loads’, and so on. Link So Many Ways To Say Many