171 Comments
2368
It seems weird to me that "bastante" means both "enough" and "a lot". I guess the two could mean the same thing in English, but "a lot" isn't necessarily "enough".
IG88, normally it should mean a lot, take into consideration that sometimes having a lot is having enough, for example if I'm going on a trip for a weekend and say "Tengo bastante ropa para el fin de semana." when I say that I have "bastante" what I really mean is that I have enough to spend the weekend, so it really depends on how you use it.
I disagree, I think 'a lot' often implies more than is needed.
I sleep a lot; I brought a lot of food; I have a lot of fuel
vs I sleep enough; I brought enough food; I have enough fuel.
I never said that it always means enough, I said sometimes. The Spanish word has both meanings, if I want to say that I have just enough I use "suficiente" so when I say I have "bastante" of something I usually mean that I am estimating that I have a good amount of it and it should suffice, it should be enough, so sometimes having more than it is needed is having enough. That is my view at least, and of course that ambiguity doesn't happen in English since "enough" and "a lot" are very different terms.
I thought bastante meant enough or 'quite a... ' e.g. 'quite a lot'. Whilst the word may or may not mean both 'a lot' and 'enough' in Spanish, the concepts are totally distinct which is why it's weird to have one word mean both. Having 'a lot' of something is not the same as having 'enough'. "Do you sleep a lot" for example is a totally different question to "do you sleep enough". I can't imagine using 'bastante' in this question to mean 'a lot' as opposed to using 'mucho' for example.
To me the translation "do you sleep a lot?" sounds more correct than "do you sleep enough?". As I said above, if I wanted to ask you if you sleep precisely enough I would use "suficiente". Despite the actual meaning of the word, "bastante" always has that sense of a little over enough. It could also have these meanings:
Suficiente o no poco.
- De tu casa a la mía hay bastantes kilómetros. (no poco, muchos)
- Ya somos bastantes, que no vengan más personas. (suficiente)
En una cantidad indefinida, pero suficiente.
- No ha nevado bastante (lo suficiente) para poder ir a esquiar.
- Me gusta bastante (quite a bit), pero no tanto como para comprarlo.
Más de lo necesario o de lo normal.
- No voy a cenar porque he comido bastante hoy. (a lot)
Antepuesto a un adverbio, muy.
- No puedes ir andando porque está bastante (muy) lejos.
I hope this helps more than my previous explanations because I don't think I can explain it any better.
Rather than "enough" or "a lot" might "plenty" be a better fit in English? The connotation is "exactly as much as needed or more."
Thanks for taking the time to provide more info but I actually wasn't asking for an explanation, just giving my opinion on why I wouldn't use bastante to mean 'a lot' in place of 'mucho' in this example.
I'm still not convinced. So for the benefit of everyone still confused by the meanings I'll leave this excerpt [http://i.imgur.com/twxD7DB.jpg] from this fantastic book:
If four different explanations, an excerpt from a book, and the word of a native speaker won't do I don't know what would.
Well that book just explained it perfectly: 'bastante' doesn't bloody well mean 'enough'!! haha! Why does every course teach that it does then?! Not only is it not used to mean enough (literally) in everyday speech, it doesn't even actually mean that! Why don't people just teach 'suficiente' for 'enough'?! Well that's all cleared up now, thanks for the link!
I think that bastante is always more like rather a lot more than simply a lot when it does imply more than just enough. Duermo bastante may mean more than just enough, but it is less than much. It is like saying I get a fair amount of sleep or I sleep rather a lot. It always has a slight degree of qualification. That makes it difficult to learn by any method, but especially with limited context.
"Enough! What are you doing in my house?"- (Shrek, 2001) Shrek, to the Three Blind Mic who invaded his home and harassed him. He doesn't like people to begin with, so biting the inside of his ears, and lobbing food in his face would be "too much" A perfect example where 'enough' can indicate that someone has reached a comfortable limit of anything.
Agreed. In english 'enough' and 'a lot' don't necesarily mean the same thing. Perhaps it's more appropriate in Spanish to say "...too much" in those instances when you're saying that what you're doing is exessive. I guess its about being more specific when speaking Spanish...
"Sir, the money you've offered is a lot but it's just not enough for our expenses," said beautiful black lady, but calmy.
It may seem odd, but I guess that's just how Spanish is. I think it is extremely important to think like a Spanish speaker when speaking Spanish. Trying to use concepts found in English to make sense of Spanish does not always work. Sometimes we need to adopt new concepts in order to properly speak and understand a foreign language. This is why small children learn new languages so easily. Their minds are completely open to new ideas. Look at how bastante is used in everyday settings and try to understand what the word means from the point of view of native speakers.
I was going to say, enough may not necessarily be a lot. Like sometimes for some things a small amount can be enough. For example, salt. So the idea that "a lot" and "enough" are synonymous is mistaken.
I was taught that "bastante" also means "pretty", as in "That's pretty weird." Are both translations correct?
Pretty is sort of a vague word in English. Different people seem to use the word with a variety of meaning ranging from almost (pretty sure) to quite or considerably (pretty tired) passing reasonably somewhere in the middle. . Assuming you meant the considerable end of the continuum, though, yes it does. Although bastante does also seems to have its own continuum. But that meaning does not work here. This bastante is adverb modifying duermes. When bastante is used to mean pretty it is also an adverb, but it requires an adjective or another adverb to modify. ¿Duermes bastante bien? Do you sleep pretty well? Él es bastante joven. He is quite young.
why dont they accept "sleep enough?" english people also can use the phase like this
Yep, we would definitely say this in Hiberno-English and British-English, except that it would be "Sleep much?", to mean "Did you sleep much [sic. enough]/ get enough sleep?".
Yes but that's not a complete sentence. It's just short hand that you use with friends etc. Duolingo is teaching grammatically correct sentences which in English, have to contain a subject.
No. You can't say 'sleep enough' in English unless you are using short hand with someone e.g. a friend. A proper English sentence has to contain a subject.
"Did you sleep enough?" should have been accepted. just saying "you sleep enough" is slang and would be improper in this context
I'm not going to pretend to know more than I do, but I'm guessing it didn't accept 'did you sleep enough' because 'did' is past tense. But I agree that seems like it could be an acceptable alternate translation. Did you report it?
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Technically speaking, "Did you sleep enough [that night]" and "Do you sleep enough [in general]" have two different meanings. imtlhabs probably got it wrong because his sentence is not present/habitual tense.
The reason it wasn't accepted is because "did" suggests it was a past tense verb, which has a different conjugation.
Is that why for "Duerme bastante?" I was marked wrong for my translation of "Do you fall asleep a lot?", in other words, we should consider 'fall asleep' as slang for 'duerme'?
If you left out the "quite" that probably would have been accepted - it's probably just a little more than they are looking for. Adding "quite" makes it more emphatic.
The closest translation in this context is 'plenty'. Plenty sleep, plenty clothes, plenty fuel etc. Plenty is enough, perhaps more than enough, certainly sufficient. "Do you get plenty sleep?"
I put "Do you sleep much?" and it wasn't accepted. Any specific translation difference here?
Because that is a tense we have not learned yet. 'You are sleeping' is not quite the same as 'you sleep,' though they are both in the present tense.
I appreciate your observation, and would like to understand your vantage point. Do you say this as a native speaker of Spanish? That would help me to understand your grasp of the nuance of verb tenses.
Verb tenses are elaborate in both Spanish and English. While my translation uses the present progressive tense in English, this often translates to the simple present tense in Spanish - as it would here in my example.
Hence, I do not understand the relevance of your comment.
I am not a native speaker of Spanish, but I remember from high school that the present progressive tense has different verb endings which we haven't learned yet at this level. Perhaps someone else can step in to explain because I don't remember what the endings are.
You seem to be speaking of the present progressive tense in Spanish. I didn't use this. I used the present progressive tense in English, to translate from the (simple) present tense in Spanish. This is often an accurate translation, as I believe it is here.
Okay, I understand. A native speaker will have to sort this out then. I do remember that being the case now, but I don't know if there are exceptions or what.
"Are you sleeping enough"? is short term i.e. 'recently'. For example, someone might be going through a difficult time so you would ask "are you sleeping enough"? or "are you getting enough sleep"? The translation here of "do you sleep a lot"? is just general i.e. "typically, do you sleep a lot"? "Do you spend a lot of time sleeping"? (generally). Hope that helps.
Yes, quite a lot is in the drop down but then you are expected to omit "quite", why is this?
"Hey, what day is it?"
"Tuesday."
"No like the date."
"The first."
"Of what month?"
"Do you sleep a lot?"
Not really. Take this sentence for example: "Dormi abbastanza?" and "Dormi molto?" convey two entirely different meanings in Italian!
Yeah, I'm confused as to when you use "do" vs "did". I too said, "Did you sleep enough?".
Duermes bastante? = Do you sleep enough? or "Are you sleeping enough?". They are both fine.
Has dormido bastante? or "Dormiste bastante?" = Did you sleep enough? Have you slept enough?
Hope this helps
Are you sleeping enough has a different use/meaning. Some of my Indian friends (i.e. from India!) use 'are you' instead of 'do you' when it's not needed and 'it does change the meaning' (as opposed to 'it is changing the meaning').
I think it's like the difference between estuvo and fue in general. When you say 'are you', you are asking if someone is 'literally' DOING the action. Whereas if I asked 'do you sleep a lot'? then I'm not specifically talking about any particular day or time frame, just 'typically'. 'Are you' is active whereas 'do you' is passive.
"Did" is past tense. "Do" (in this context) is just "generally speaking". So, "in general" do you sleep enough"? ('are you sleeping enough' has a different use/meaning).
yeah, I never saw bastante for "a lot", I translated as "enough", which made me think past tense - oh well
my question is not about enough and a lot. My question is where did the word 'do' come from. I put Did you sleep enough? and it was marked wrong. Why is "do" the correct translation? Duermes is 'you sleep' Not "do you sleep"
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Gael, I think Duo expects us to stick to the Present Simple Tense (at lease for now, since we haven't been taught the other tenses yet), hence the "Do" being accepted and not the "Did".
I am confused. You resist "do" but are happy to put in "did"....??? Did is past tense and you correctly say duermes is you sleep i.e. present tense. You are incorrect though - duermes also means "you do sleep" (and, the the way, "you are sleeping" unless one wants to say sleeping at exactly this moment, so for example "you are sleeping every day at present" would use duermes). Maybe not used often like that in English but essential for negation (I do not sleep) and as here questions - do you sleep? Did plays exactly same role but in the past. Hope this helps.
What about mucho, un montón, muchísimo, menudo, bastante, demasiado, montones, un lote con frecuencia, mejor, un poco, la mayoría, seguido, peor, parece etc.
These all mean 'a lot'
Can I use fairly? Do you sleep fairly? ...or this has a different meaning? Thank you.
Native speaker, please help. I hear her say (separating syllables):
Vu er i mes (four syllables starting with a V)
Wouldn't it be pronounced: Duer mes (two syllables starting with a D)
Is this correct?????? I listened to this phrase a million times!
When I clicked on the word to see what it meant because I couldn't remember it said "quite a lot". But when I put it in, it said it was just "a lot"and I got it wrong.
Could you say "Duermes sufficiente " for "Did you sleep enough" which would sound more natural to me.
¿Duermes mucho? = Do you sleep a lot? ¿Duermes bastante? = Do you sleep a lot / enough ?
Is that correct?
I seem to remember "bastante bueno" as "pretty good".... so is the literal translation of this then "a lot (of) good", and does it mean the same (not entirely awesome, but still fairly good); or more like "good enough"?
This may a colloquial thing, but everytime I use 'bastante' to mean 'enough' in Latin America I get quizzical looks and nobody understands me. suficiente is the right word. It took me awhile to unlearn this. Outside of duolingo, I've only seen bastante in writing and then it was a modifier to an adjective 'rather' or 'quite': él es un bastante buen actor. or he's a rather/quite good actor. For those in Latin American, this lesson is just plain wrong.
Bastante is like saying "pretty" as in "pretty nice". It's also like saying plenty. It's not too much, or enough, it's plenty, or pretty well
I use my cell phone for duolingo and somtimes make simple spelling errors. Sometimes duo accepts them with a warning but more often it doesn't. :(
Is this a phrase that one might actually use or is used commonly? Does anyone know of a good example?
It would be beneficial to all that plenty would be included in the suggestions.
To me, Sleep a lot? and Do you sleep a lot? are the same thing. Why did I get this incorrect?
Every chance I can close my eyes and forget about this putrid mess of an evil world!
The pons dictionary also says, that bastante means enough There is no entry, where it means a lot
Gee, why does Duo always pry into my affairs?
And no, I do not sleep a lot.
(Not 100% sure but) the sorta literal translation of 'bastante' is 'quite'. From what i know, American English speakers use it as a way to say 'a lot' wheras British English speakers use it as 'enough' or 'little'. So more of a cultural translation barrier.
Forget you, 'stop the clutter' sign! I want to say that for weeks I've been asking my bathroom remodeler, Santos, "Tienes bastante dinero?" when he'd announce he had to go to Home Depot for supplies. He knows I'll give him more if he is low on cash. I THOUGHT I was asking: 'do you have enough money?" Now I find out I've been asking, "Do you have a LOT of money?" Does 'bastante' mean 'enough' in ANY Spanish-speaking country? Santo is from El Salvador--I'll ask him tomorrow what 'bastante' means to him...
It confuses me that there are many words in Spanish that translates to "a lot", I don't know what's more appropriate to use. :(
Enough is how I would use it - a lot , mucho. Duermo bastante , would mean I sleep well or enough. Duermo mucho is completely different.
I actually think a Swedish perspective might help to end some confusion here. In Swedish, we have the similar root-word "bastant", which translated means: "substantial, solid; stout; good, sound." It's a word which primarily deals with quality and/or thickness, rather than amount.
So in English, I'm guessing a better translation might be: "Do you get solid enough sleep?"; or "Do you sleep soundly?"
Just my two cents...
In southern U S A, we sometimes say, "gracious plenty" meaning more than just sufficient. Eg.
Put some chicken on my plate, please.
How's that?
That's a gracious plenty.
I accidentally anwsered this question with 'No, yo no duermo bastante'...Es claro qué necesito más sueño!
- 804
Please get rid of a lot and make it enough. English uses enough not a lot. A lot is not used like that in the US. You are lessening your product. You have enough complaints to make a change some how.
I'd like to know the difference between "bastante" and "sufficiente". According to Spanish dict, it says that sufficient is saying "enough" or sufficient. "bastante" is used to say more than enough or even a plethora of something. Is this true? Here the link I saw this on. Fluent and natives please help! Thank you in advance.
http://www.spanishdict.com/answers/123248/do-suficiente-and-bastante-always-have-the-same-meaning
No. Duemes mucho would be Do you sleep a lot. A lot would be considered more than simply enough, which is what bastante means.
In venezuela, colombia and near countries you can say....
¿Duermes mucho? or ¿Tu duermes bastante?
both sentences are correct and the people can understand you.. frequently is used ¿duermes mucho?
(I sorry for my english)
Do you sleep a lot sounds a bit like Duermes mucho? Would "sleep well" be OK.
No. Well speaks to the quality of sleep. Bastante is somewhat hard to translate without context clues. It comes from the verb bastar which means to be enough or suffice. So one correct translation would be Do you sleep enough. But when modifying some nouns it can be like mucho and may be translated as quite but more often is can mean fairly or pretty. Bastante bien is generally translated as fairly well. If you read the definitions and examples on Spanishdict.com you should get the feel. But note that many of examples are pulled from the web and sometimes are off either in usage (like a proper name that is a word) or the highlighting is wrong. But most work.
You guys should really think about joining my club! The club code is 3BHFHT! We'd be delighted to have you!
This is kind of a loaded question for people with sleep issues. That being said, I guess it is relevant to my life.
Why does the pronoun have to be used in an English translation? The form of the verb in Spanish indicates a familiar form. Omitting the pronoun in English has the same effect. I would definitely omit the pronoun in English with family, friends, etc.
Omitting the subject pronoun in Spanish is routine, whether tú or another pronoun. And any question or statement can be a complete grammatical sentence without a pronoun in Spanish, but the only grammatically correct English structure that does not include the pronoun is the Imperative. It is true that in modern colloquial spoken English people do ask questions omitting the subject pronouns. I do it myself. But that is generally for more routine or common questions like Sleep well? Or Feel better? But that also is not the major way I ask those questions and they also tend to be asked in a more informal situation than simply that I address them by their first name.
This question is more fore the latin americans. Would it be more normal to say duermes mucho?
Why isn't "Sleep a lot ?" also accepted? The words do you are not always used in English for a question like this.
This is a different question. Did you sleep enough generally refers to last night or the nap you just woke up from. Do you sleep enough is a question your doctor or someone concerned about your health would ask. It is a general question regarding how much sleep you generally get per night.
While quite a lot is one meaning for bastante, that would not be how à native speaker would probably interpret this sentence. It is hard to explain, but bastante goes from simply meaning enough to quite a lot based on what you are talking about.
it should be
did you sleep enough
thats ssssssssssooooooooooooooooo wrong
