Repasamos cuándo usar much y many en inglés para hablar de cantidad y en expresiones como how much/how many, too much/too many. Porque aunque usamos estas palabras muy a menudo, no siempre lo tenemos claro.

A la hora de usar much y many para hablar de cantidad, es importante tener claro qué son los sustantivos contables e incontables porque es el elemento que nos va a ayudar a decidir cuándo usar uno u otro. A rasgos muy generales y como su nombre indica los sustantivos contables son aquellos que podemos contar (por unidades) y tienen una forma en plural y los incontables son aquellos que no podemos contar de manera individual y no suelen tener una forma en plural (por ejemplo: money, time, sugar, water…). Esto es algo así muy general, sin entrar en muchos detalles, pero simplemente para que lo tengas en cuenta.

MUCH

usamos much + uncountable nouns, es decir, con sustantivos incontables.

A menudo usamos not much en frases con significado negativo, no es frecuente usar much en frases afirmativas.

e.g.
We don’t have much time.
I don’t drink much coffee.
There isn’t much to do here.

MANY

usamos many + plural countable nouns, es decir, con sustantivos contables en plural.

Podemos usar many en frases afirmativas y negativas, pero quizá es más común usar not many, al igual que sucede con not much.

e.g.
She doesn’t have many friends here.
There are (not) many shops in this street.
I didn’t buy many things.

Ya hemos visto brevemente la principal diferencia entre usar much y many y hemos comentado  que es común usarlas en frases negativas. Esto es así porque si queremos hablar de cantidad en frases afirmativas, es más frecuente usar la expresión a lot of.

A LOT OF

usamos a lot of  tanto con sustantivos contables como incontables, aquí no hay problema porque no es necesario diferenciarlos como sucede al usar much y many. Observa

e.g.
He drinks a lot of coffee.
We have a lot of friends in this city.
She has a lot of things to do at work.

Además de usar much y many con sustantivos también nos encontramos con how much y how many cuando queremos hacer preguntas. 

HOW MUCH / HOW MANY

usamos how much por una parte para preguntar el precio de algo (¿cuánto cuesta?)

e.g.
How much is it?
How much is this bag?
How much are these shoes?

y por otra parte usamos how much para preguntar sobre la cantidad con sustantivos incontables

e.g.
How much time do we have?
How much coffee do you drink?
How much money did you spend?

usamos how many solo para preguntar sobre la cantidad, con sustantivos contables en plural

e.g.
How many people will come?
How many books did you buy?
How many countries have you visited?

Como ves, al usar how much y how many seguimos la misma pauta que al usar much y many, es decir, much con sustantivos incontables y many con sustantivos contables en plural.

Vamos a ver ahora el caso de too much y too many, también siguiendo la misma pauta.

TOO MUCH / TOO MANY

en este caso, el significado no varía si usamos uno u otro, si añadimos too, significa “demasiado” en el sentido de más de lo necesario. Lo que sí cambia es cuándo usar too much o too many. Al igual que en los casos anteriores la pauta es la misma, usamos too much con sustantivos incontables.

e.g.
We have too much work to do this week.
I have drunk too much coffee today.
There was too much food at the wedding.

usamos too many con sustantivos contables en plural.

e.g.
There were too many tourists in the city.
I have too many things in my head.
She asks too many questions.

Seguro que ahora te queda más claro cómo y cuando usar much y many, también en las expresiones how much/many y too much/many. Recuerda que much acompaña a sustantivos incontables y many a sustantivos contables y ya lo tienes!

Continuamos con la serie de posts sobre phrasal verbs para que cada vez te resulte más fácil conocerlos y empezar a utilizarlos. Esta vez prestaremos atención a varios phrasal verbs con come de uso habitual. Como siempre, os los presentamos con definiciones y ejemplos para que quede más claro.

Come on, let’s go! Comenzamos! ✏️

Come about – to happen or occur – suceder, ocurrir.

E.g.
How did this situation come about?
How did the fire come about?

Come across – to find by chance / accident – encontrar por casualidad.

E.g.
I came across some old photographs when I cleaned up the attic.
She came across Rob when she was at the bank.

Come along – to develop, to make progress – desarrollar, progresar (o hacer progresos).

E.g.
How is the project coming along?
I think we are coming along, we expect to finish soon.

Come along – to appear or to arrive – llegar, aparecer.

E.g.
A bus should come along any minute now.
An opportunity came along and I took the job.

Come along – to go somewhere with someone – acompañar.

E.g.
We are going to have a coffee. Would you like to come along?

Come back – to return – volver.

E.g.
He’s not here at the moment. Could you come back later?

Come by – to be able to get something difficult – conseguir.

E.g.
Cheap organic food it’s not easy to come by.
How did you come by that wonderful apartment?

Come down with – to become ill – caer enfermo.

E.g.
I’m not feeling well, I think I’m coming down with a cold.

Come forward – to offer to do something, to volunteer – ofrecerse, presentarse voluntario.

E.g.
Only one person of the team came forward to help.

Come over – to visit someone in their house – visitar, pasarse a ver.

E.g.
Will you come over on Friday evening?
His parents are coming over for the weekend.

Come out – to become known- conocerse, salir a la luz.

E.g.
The truth will come out sooner or later.
When is the new edition coming out?

Come (a)round – to change your opinion – cambiar de opinión (dejarse convencer).

E.g.
In the end, we came round and accepted their expert advice.
I think they will come round to our way of seeing things.

Come (a)round – to visit someone – pasarse a ver.

E.g.
Sure, come (a)round! I can show my new collection.

Come round – to recover consciousness – recobrar la consciencia.

E.g.
She was coming round, but she was a bit confused after the surgery.

Come up – appear, happen, occur (unexpectedly) – ocurrir, surgir.

E.g.
I’m sorry I miss the meeting, something came up in the last minute.

Come up with – to think of an idea/ a plan – pensar, dar con una idea o un plan.

E.g.
They came up with a fantastic plan to make processes more efficient.

Los phrasal verbs son un tema recurrente a la hora de aprender inglés y una forma de ampliar vocabulario y comunicarnos como lo haría un hablante nativo, échale un vistazo a otros posts de esta serie sobre phrasal verbs aquí ????