muchos

Muchos is a Spanish determiner and pronoun meaning a large number of or many. It is the masculine plural form of mucho and is used with masculine plural nouns or as a standalone pronoun. The feminine plural form is muchas; the singular forms are mucho (masculine) and mucha (feminine). When used as a pronoun, muchos can stand in for people or things without repeating a noun, as in Muchos llegaron temprano.

Etymology traces muchos to Latin multus (and its derivatives), with its modern forms evolving into the Spanish muy-quantity words mucho/muchos and their feminine counterparts. Related Romance-language cognates include Portuguese muitos, Italian molti, and French beaucoup, all signaling large quantity in various grammatical systems.

Usage notes and grammar: Muchos agrees in gender and number with the noun it modifies or with the implied subject when used as a pronoun. It commonly appears before a plural noun, as in muchos libros; it can also appear with de to form phrases like muchos de nosotros, many of us, or muchos de ellos, many of them. It can be used in affirmative statements (Muchos viven aquí), questions (¿Cuántos libros tienes?), and negatives (No hay muchos). Unlike uncountable quantities expressed with mucho, muchos targets countable nouns; for uncountables, forms like mucho or mucha are used (mucho dinero, mucha gente).

In usage, muchos is versatile in both formal and colloquial Spanish. It contrasts with quantities indicated by smaller numbers or with the more general tan ... como constructions, and it is often intensified through adverbs such as muy or muchísimo.