In this lesson, we’ll learn about quantificadores existenciaisexistential quantifiers . Existential quantifiers provide information about quantity without specifying an exact quantity or amount. In English, we would use words like many, few, some, so much, another, several, and plenty. Let’s take a look at how to express these concepts in Portuguese.
Muito, Muita, Muitos, Muitas
Muito and muita are the singular form equivalents to many, very, much, or a lot. Examples:
muitovery, a lot (masc.)
Tenho muito medo!I’m very afraid!
muitaa lot (fem.)
Isto ainda é muita coisa para levar.This is still a lot to carry.
Muitos and muitas are the plural forms of muito and muita. Examples:
muitosmany, a lot (masc.)
Quero ter muitos gatos.I want to have a lot of cats.
muitasmany, a lot (fem.)
Muitas aves migram no Inverno.Many birds migrate in winter.
Pouco, Pouca, Poucos, Poucas
Pouco and pouca are the singular form equivalents to little, not much, or few. Examples:
poucolittle (masc.)
Isto é muito pouco sumo.This is very little juice.
poucalittle (fem.)
Tenho pouca paciência para palavras-cruzadas.I have little patience for crosswords.
Poucos and poucas are the plural forms of pouco and pouca. Examples:
poucosfew (masc.)
Há poucos estudantes chineses na minha escola.There are few Chinese students in my school.
poucasfew (fem.)
Ela é pessoa de poucas palavras.She’s a woman of few words.
Algum, Alguma, Alguns, Algumas
Algum and alguma are the singular form equivalents to some, any, or a bit of. Examples:
algumsome, any (masc.)
Tens algum livro sobre Matemática?Do you have any books on Mathematics?
algumasome, any (fem.)
Alguma dessa torta é para a tua avó.Some of that Swiss roll is for your grandmother.
Alguns and algumas are the plural forms of algum and alguma, and they also correspond to some or a few of. Examples:
algunssome, a few (masc.)
Dá-me alguns destes biscoitos.Give me a few of these biscuits.
algumassome, a few (fem.)
Algumas destas camisolas já não me servem.Some of these jumpers no longer fit me.
Tanto, Tanta, Tantos, Tantas
Tanto and tanta are the singular form equivalents to so much or that much in English. Examples:
tantoso much, that much (masc.)
Tanto azul aqui não fica bem.That much blue here doesn’t look good.
tantaso much, that much (fem.)
Isto é tanta comida!This is so much food!
Tantos and tantas are the plural forms of tanto and tanta, and correspond to so many in English. Examples:
tantosso many (masc.)
São tantos os turistas que visitam Portugal.So many tourists visit Portugal.
tantasso many (fem.)
Estas calças têm tantas nódoas!These trousers have so many stains on them!
Outro, Outra, Outros, Outras
Outro and outra are the singular form equivalents to other or another. Examples:
outroother, another (masc.)
Queria outro pão, por favor.I'd like another bread roll, please.
outraother, another (fem.)
Tens outra versão disto?Do you have another version of this?
Outros and outras are the plural forms of outro and outra, and correspond to other(s) in English. Examples:
outrosother (masc.)
Temos de deixar entrar os outros alunos.We have to let the other students in.
outrasother (fem.)
Há outras soluções melhores.There are other, better solutions.
Vários, Várias
Vários and várias are equivalent to several. Since they refer to multiple elements, they only exist in plural form. Examples:
váriosseveral (masc.)
Vários dos meus amigos são casados.Several of my friends are married.
váriasseveral (fem.)
São várias as iguarias tradicionais do Ribatejo.There are several traditional dishes from the Ribatejo.
Bastante, Bastantes
Bastante is a word you may have come across in the Adverbs unit. Bastante, the singular form, and bastantes, the plural form, correspond to lots of, many, plenty of, or enough in English. They differ from muito/muita/muitos/muitas in that bastante/bastantes are more emphatic. Examples:
bastanteenough, plenty, a lot
Ainda há bastante água na garrafa.There’s still plenty of water in the bottle.
bastantesenough, plenty, a lot
O Porto é visitado por bastantes pessoas todos os dias.Porto is visited by lots of people every day.
Should Tens algum livro sobre Matemática read as Tens algum livros…….? The translation is given in the plural as Do you have any books…….. Or should it be Tens alguns livros……? I am confused.
Obrigado
The Portuguese sentence is correct. We usually ask this type of questions in the singular (“Tens algum livro”), but we are in fact saying “one or more”. It’s completely open ended. In English, “any books” is more correct than “any book”, which explains the apparent mismatch in the translation. “Tens alguns livros” is also grammatically correct, but doesn’t fit well here. “Tem algum livros” doesn’t exist 🙂
Olá! Há alguma diferença entre as frases “Uma outra imperial, se faz favor” e “Mais uma imperial, se faz favor”? Um amigo barman disse-me que o segundo pode ter qualquer sentido de ser à beira de tornar-se alcoólico!
Olá! I honestly don’t see any practical difference between them 🙂 I’d just note that instead of “Uma outra imperial”, we’re more likely to just say “Outra imperial”.
Muito obrigado, Joseph. Dito isto, pode pedir “Outras duas (imperiais) na vez de “Mais duas (imperiais)? Ou ainda mais se me apetecer?
Sim. Mas cuidado com a bebedeira (e a ressaca)!
Não te preocupes, Joseph! Acho que consigo virar-me!
E se uma dia tivermos a oportunidade de nos encontrar, devo-to uma (ou mais)!
Haha, perfeito!
Just a couple of small things…Shouldn’t “Isto é muito pouco sumo” be translated as “this is very little juice”, or can it also mean the same as “isto é sumo insuficiente”?
And, in the final example above, I think you probably meant to translate “pessoas” differently.
You’ve created a great learning tool. Muito obrigado.
Obrigado, Terry! “Muito pouco” can be used in both senses (very little or too little). But in a purely grammatical sense, “very little” would be the closest match, so we’ve updated that bit, as well as the translation for “pessoas” 🙂
Even though algum and alguma is singular and has ‘um’ and ‘uma’ in it (suggesting countable nouns) can you still use it on uncountable nouns like ‘eu quero alguma água, por favor’ or, like in your example, ‘Alguma dessa torta é para a tua avó’? I ask to make sure I understood correctly because these sentences sound weird to me; ‘eu quero um pouco de água’ sounds more natural.
Yes, that’s grammatically acceptable (‘algum’ is not limited to countable nouns), but it won’t always sound natural; depends on the sentence/context. “Um pouco de” is a generally safe choice 🙂
Temos de (deixar entrar) os outros alunos.
We have to (let enter) the other students.
Instead of having back-to-back infinitives,
can this sentence also be correctly written as:
‘Temos de (deixar) os outros alunos (entrar).’ ? We have to (let) the other students (enter).
Yes it can, Whit! Both options are perfectly correct and natural.
Hi. I thought (read: made up my own mind to try make some sense of it at the time) that “muito” or “muita” both mean “a lot” and that “muito” also means “very”. Can you give any example using “muita” as “very”?
Olá, Claudine. That’s correct! “Muita” is only used in the sense of “very” if it’s a slang form, but that doesn’t count as one of its standard uses. Looks like there was a small imprecision in the Learning Note, but it’s already been updated – thanks for bringing it up 🙂
Muito obrigada, Joseph. I was waiting to come across this lesson to help clarify it in my head, which it has.
Qual é a diferença entre “qualquer” e “algum”?
As frazes “Qualquer lugar é bom”
e “Algum lugar é bom” são igual?
Olá, David. “Qualquer” pode ser traduzido como “any” em geral, mas “algum” normalmente só significa “any” em frases interrogativas. Em frases declarativas, “algum” normalmente significa “some” ou “a/an”. Por esse motivo, as frases que indicaste são diferentes:
– Qualquer lugar é bom = Any place is good
– Algum lugar é bom = Some place is good
“tens algum livro sobre matemática?” is translated as “Do you have any books on mathematics. Could you use “tens quaisquer livros sobre matemática?
Olá. Using “quaisquer” in that example should be acceptable grammatically, but it doesn’t sound as idiomatic as using “algum” 🙂
Hi,
You have the sentence “são tantos os turistas….” But isn’t turista feminine : “são tantas as turistas… “?
Yours, Richard
“Turista” is a gender-neutral word, even though it ends with an -a. Keep in mind that it isn’t a strict rule that ALL words ending in -a are feminine! Like “artista” or “pianista”. So, since the masculine wording prevails when the plural is several people, both men and women, we say “são tantOs Os turistas”. Only if it was a group of women it would be “São tantas as turistas”. Turista(s) is the same regardless the gender.
🙂
Olá e Feliz Natal,
Why is the article ‘as’ present and/or necessary in this sentence?
São várias as iguarias tradicionais do Ribatejo.
In this sentence the subject “as iguarias tradicionais do Ribatejo” comes after the verb – and the existential quantifier – “são várias”. We could also have said: As iguarias tradicionais do Ribatejo são várias.
FELIZ NATAL!
Many thanks for your prompt reply.
Using the article makes more sense when you put it that way round.
Is it also possible to say:
Há várias iguarias tradicionais do Ribatejo.
Yes, absolutely! 🙂
Algumas destas camisolas já não me servem. ==> Some of these jumpers no longer fit me…… Isn’t this a bit too freely (?) translated? Although I think I do know another word for to fit (caber). The Portuguese sentence feels more like : they are of no use to me anymore. But maybe that’s too literally?
Olá! The translation is actually quite aligned with the Portuguese phrasing and meaning, it’s not a loose translation. The verb ‘servir’ should be interpreted as ‘fit’ in this context (not ‘serve’) and it’s the most idiomatic choice when discussing the size of clothes – the verb ‘caber’ would not be our preference here.
When you say “Isto é tanto comida”… How is that different from “Isto é bastante comida”, or “Isto é muito comida”? I am trying to understand which quantifier to use in different instances.
Thanks!
“Tanta comida” is more emphatic (SO much food), a level of intensity higher than “bastante/muita comida” (a lot of food).
Olá! Queria perguntar-vos sobre a ordem das palavras quando temos ao mesmo tempo um quantificador (algum / alguma / alguns / algumas) e um pronome pessoal. Por exemplo, quero dizer “some of my friends”. Se entendo bem, posso dizer “alguns dos meus amigos”. Mas posso também dizer simplesmente “alguns meus amigos” ou “alguns amigos meus”?
Obrigada antecipadamente pela vossa resposta!
Olá! “Alguns amigos meus” é uma alternativa totalmente idiomática, sim 🙂 Não dizemos “alguns meus amigos”.