‘Tão’ v. ‘Tanto’ in Portuguese – Know the Difference

Portuguese language learners often struggle to distinguish between the adverbs tão and tanto. Are you one of them?

I get it! After all, tão and tanto are modifiers used to intensify the meaning of other words. Also, both often give sentences a touch of unexpectedness, surprise, or excitement.

So, what’s the difference between tão and tanto?

Tão is used to intensify adjectives and other adverbs, whereas tanto is used to intensify verbs.

Additionally, tanto is used as a noun quantifier. In that case, it agrees with the gender and number of the noun it refers to (it is variable). Depending on whether it refers to countable or uncountable nouns, tanto will correspond to the English phrases so many or so much respectively.

Let’s dive in.

Tão

Tão is a modifier (an adverb of degree) and it is invariable. It is the Portuguese equivalent of so in English.

We place tão before adjectives and adverbs * to intensify them. It also gives the sentence an element of surprise or excitement. 

* Do you still remember the difference between adjectives and adverbs?

Adjectives are words that modify and describe nouns  (pretty, silly, red, boring, slow, tall, etc.)

Adverbs are words (or phrases) that modify and qualify adjectives, verbs, or other adverbs, expressing relations of place, time, circumstance, manner, cause, and degree (quickly, fast, everywhere, early, enough, etc.)

Tão before adjectives

Take the following sentence: 

Ele é giro. He’s cute.

And now the same sentence with tão  preceding and intensifying the adjective giro:

Ele é tão giro! He’s so cute!

Tão before adverbs

The same applies to adverbs. Take the following sentence:

Tu conduzes depressa. You drive fast.

And now the same sentence with tão preceding and intensifying the adverb depressa:

Tu conduzes  tão depressa! You drive so fast!

Tanto

Tanto can be placed either after a verb (as an adverb) or before a noun (as a quantifier). In the first case, tanto is invariable while in the second, it agrees with the gender and number of the noun it refers to, thus variable. 

Let’s have a closer look at each of these situations.

Tanto after verbs – adverb (invariable)

After a verb, tanto is invariable and acts as a modifier intensifying the verb it refers back to (much like tão does to adjectives and adverbs).

In this context, tanto  is equivalent to so much in English (even this much or that much):

Não devias* beber tanto. You shouldn’t be drinking so much.

* Dever (devias) is equivalent to the modal verb should. Learn more about Portuguese modals:  Portuguese Equivalents of English Modal Verbs

Tanto before nouns – quantifier (variable)

Placed before a noun, tanto acts as a quantifier. In this case,  tanto is variable and agrees with the gender and number* of the noun it refers to:

	Masc.	Fem.	English Equivalents
Sing.	tanto	tanta	so much (uncountable nouns)
Plu.	tantos	tantas	so many (countable nouns)

* Learn more about gender and number in Portuguese:

1. Disentangling Gender with Portuguese Masculine-to-Feminine Spelling Patterns
2. Forming the Plural in Portuguese: Singular-to-Plural Conversion Patterns You Need to Care About

Uncountable nouns – tanto/a

The quantifiers tanto/tanta agree with the noun in gender and correspond to so much, that is, they apply to uncountable nouns (things that cannot be counted):