How to Say ‘a Lot’ in Italian

| Fri, 04/19/2019 - 02:00
How to Say ‘a Lot’ in Italian

In Italian there are a variety of ways to say ‘a lot’ and ‘many’. How would you say, for example, ‘there are a lot of beautiful churches in Italy’ or ‘there are so many good wines in Italy’? In grammar terms these are called quantifiers and it’s useful to be able to use them correctly in Italian.

You probably already know ‘molto’ (many) and tanto (so many) which can be used as both adjectives and adverbs. When they’re used as adjectives they have to agree in gender and number with the thing they describe. When they’re used as adverbs they don’t need to change.

Let’s look at some examples:

 

Ho speso molti soldi al mercato - I spent a lot of money at the market (adjective)

Ci sono molte scarpe belle qui - There are a lot of beautiful shoes here / There are many beautiful shoes here (adjective)

Ho visto tanti libri nuovi in libreria - I saw so many new books in the book shop (adjective)

I bimbi hanno mangiato tante torte - The children ate so many cakes (adjective)

 

La pizza è molto buona - The pizza is really nice (adverb)

Ieri ho lavorato tanto - Yesterday I worked a lot / Yesterday I worked so much (adverb)

Gli studenti sono bravi, studiano molto - The students are good, they study a lot (adverb)

Mi sono divertita tanto alla festa ieri - I had so much fun at the party yesterday / I enjoyed myself a lot at the party yesterday 

 

There are some other, more informal, expressions we can use to express: a lot, so much, many - let’s have a look!

 

Parecchio (‘quite a lot’ or ‘quite a bit’)

Vi aspettiamo da parecchio tempo - We have been waiting for you for quite some time

Abbiamo bevuto parecchio! - We drank quite a bit!

Piangeva parecchio - He was crying quite a lot

Abbiamo ballato parecchio in discoteca - We danced quite a lot at the club

 

Un bel po’ (‘quite a lot’)

C’è ancora un bel po’ di pasta nella pentola - There’s quite a lot of pasta left in the pot

Sono stata in un bel po’ di posti in Italy - I have been to quite a few places in Italy

Hanno speso un bel po’ per quella casa - They really spent quite a lot on that house

Un bel po’ di gente viene all’evento - Quite a lot of people are coming to the event

 

Un sacco (literally ‘a sack’ or ‘a bag’)

Ho ricevuto un sacco di messaggini - I received lots of / a load of / so many messages

C’era un sacco di gente alla mostra - There were lots of people at the party

Abbiamo mangiato un sacco questo fine settimana - We ate so much this weekend

Mi piace un sacco questa birra - I really like this beer

Abbiamo camminato un sacco ieri - We walked so much yesterday

 

Un mucchio (literally ‘a heap’ or ‘a pile’)

C’è un mucchio di lavoro da fare - There’s a heap of work left to do

Ho speso un mucchio di soldi ieri - I spent a load of money yesterday

Ora abbiamo un mucchio di problemi - Now we have so many problems