{"id":2690,"date":"2012-12-04T15:23:42","date_gmt":"2012-12-04T15:23:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/?p=2690"},"modified":"2018-11-13T12:00:43","modified_gmt":"2018-11-13T11:00:43","slug":"using-molto-and-tanto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/using-molto-and-tanto\/","title":{"rendered":"Using Molto and Tanto"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Italian we have a variety of ways to say \u2018a lot\u2019 and \u2018many\u2019. The two most common of these are molto<\/strong> and tanto<\/strong>, so let\u2019s begin by looking at how we use them.<\/span><\/p>\n

1. molto<\/strong> and tanto<\/strong> used as adjectives<\/span><\/p>\n

Molto\/a\/i\/e<\/strong> is an adjective meaning \u2018much, many, a lot of, lots of\u2019 and as you can see, it changes ending depending on on the number and gender of the noun that follows it:<\/p>\n

c\u2019\u00e8 molta<\/u> <\/strong>(feminine singular)<\/span> neve sulle montagne<\/strong> = There\u2019s a lot of<\/u> snow on the mountains<\/p>\n

non abbiamo molto<\/u><\/strong> (masculine singular) <\/span>tempo<\/strong> = we don\u2019t have much<\/u> time<\/p>\n

ci sono molte<\/u> <\/strong>(feminine plural) <\/span>mele sull\u2019albero<\/strong> = there are a lot of<\/u> apples on the tree<\/p>\n

ho speso molti<\/u> <\/strong>(masculine plural)<\/span> soldi per il nuovo televisore<\/strong> = I spent a lot of<\/u> money on the new TV<\/p>\n

Tanto\/a\/i\/e<\/strong> has the same meaning as molto:<\/p>\n

c\u2019\u00e8 tanta<\/u> <\/strong>(feminine singular)<\/span> neve sulle montagne<\/strong> = There\u2019s a lot of<\/u> snow on the mountains<\/p>\n

non abbiamo tanto<\/u><\/strong> (masculine singular) <\/span>tempo<\/strong> = we don\u2019t have much<\/u> time<\/p>\n

ci sono tante<\/u> <\/strong>(feminine plural) <\/span>mele sull\u2019albero<\/strong> = there are a lot of<\/u> apples on the tree<\/p>\n

ho speso tanti<\/u> <\/strong>(masculine plural)<\/span> soldi per il nuovo televisore<\/strong> = I spent a lot of<\/u> money on the new TV<\/p>\n

However, tanto<\/strong> sometimes has a more emphatic feeling to it than molto<\/strong>, as you can see from the following examples:<\/p>\n

ho mangiato molti cioccolatini<\/strong>\u00a0as opposed to<\/span><\/em>\u00a0ho mangiato tanti cioccolatini<\/strong> = I ate a lot of chocolates as opposed to<\/span><\/em> I ate loads<\/u> of chocolates<\/p>\n

Maria ha molti gatti<\/strong> as opposed to<\/span><\/em> Maria ha tanti gatti<\/strong> = Maria has a lot of cats as opposed to<\/span><\/em> Maria has loads<\/u> of cats<\/p>\n

Therefore there are situations when we prefer to use\u00a0 tanto<\/strong> instead of molto<\/strong>, such as when telling someone off: Ti ho detto tante<\/u> volte di non toccare le forbici!<\/strong> (I told you lots of times<\/u><\/em> not to touch the scissors!)<\/p>\n

2. molto<\/strong> and tanto<\/strong> used as adverbs<\/span><\/p>\n

Both molto<\/strong> and tanto<\/strong> are used as adverbs with an adjective, a verb, or another adverb. In this case they both mean \u2018very\u2019, \u2018very much\u2019, or \u2018a lot\u2019. N.B. when used as adverbs they don\u2019t change their ending but remain in the masculine singular form, i.e. molto, tanto<\/strong><\/span>:<\/p>\n

questa torta \u00e8 molto \/ tanto buona<\/strong> = this cake is very good<\/p>\n

grazie, siete stati molto \/ tanto gentili<\/strong> = thank you, you were very kind<\/p>\n

oggi ho lavorato molto \/ tanto <\/strong>= today I worked a lot<\/p>\n

abbiamo studiato molto \/ tanto per passare l\u2019esame<\/strong> = we studied a lot in order to pass the test<\/p>\n

non mi sento molto \/ tanto bene<\/strong> = I don\u2019t feel very well<\/p>\n

Superlatives<\/span>:<\/p>\n

We can give greater emphasis to both molto<\/strong> and tanto<\/strong> by adding the suffix -issimo<\/strong>\/-issima<\/strong>\/-issimi<\/strong>\/-issime<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

However, we can only use this form as an adjective:<\/p>\n

c\u2019era moltissima<\/strong> (feminine singular) <\/span>gente alla festa<\/strong> = there were loads of people at the party<\/p>\n

ci sono tantissimi<\/strong> (masculine plural) <\/span>fichi quest\u2019anno<\/strong> = there are loads of figs this year<\/p>\n

or as an adverb with a verb:<\/p>\n

oggi ho lavorato moltissimo \/ tantissimo <\/strong>= today I worked really<\/u> hard<\/p>\n

abbiamo studiato moltissimo \/ tantissimo per passare l\u2019esame<\/strong> = we really<\/u> studied a lot<\/u> in order to pass the test<\/p>\n

N.B. we can\u2019t<\/u> say: questa torta \u00e8 moltissimo \/ tantissimo buona <\/strong>(more about this in my next blog on the topic).<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ll follow this blog up in a few days by looking at the many colloquial ways in which we say \u2018many\u2019, \u2018a lot\u2019, \u2018loads\u2019, and so on. Link So Many Ways To Say Many<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Italian we have a variety of ways to say \u2018a lot\u2019 and \u2018many\u2019. The two most common of these are molto and tanto, so let\u2019s begin by looking at how we use them. 1. molto and tanto used as adjectives Molto\/a\/i\/e is an adjective meaning \u2018much, many, a lot of, lots of\u2019 and as…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[229216,229214,229217,229213,229215],"class_list":["post-2690","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-grammar","tag-moltissimo","tag-molto","tag-tantissimo","tag-tanto","tag-using-molto-and-tanto"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2690"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2690\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17392,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2690\/revisions\/17392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/italian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}