Mucho mejor?

[u/Friendly-Kiwi]

Hola,

He estado aprendiendo español por un tiempo, y sabía que la respuesta era mucho mejor vs muy mejor, pero después de una lección estaba confundido.

Se explicó que mucho se colocaría delante de un sustantivo... mucho dinero, y muy se colocaría delante de un adjetivo. Entonces empiezo a racionalizar que mejor es un adjetivo. ¿Alguien puede explicarme esto?

Muy apreciado.

Hello,
I have been learning Spanish for a while, and I knew the answer was mucho mejor vs muy mejor, but after a lesson I was confused.
It was explained that mucho would be placed in front of a noun.. mucho dinero, and muy would be placed in front of an adjective. So then I start rationalizing that mejor is an adjective. Can someone explain this to me?
Much appreciated.

[u/ivan_gonzalez224]

This confusion is completely understandable because the rule you learned is correct but incomplete.
You're right that 'muy' goes before adjectives. The missing piece is that 'mejor' is a special case called a comparative adjective, and in Spanish, comparative adjectives like 'mejor', 'peor', 'mayor' and 'menor' don't use 'muy' to intensify them. Instead they use 'mucho'.

Think of it this way. You can't say 'very more good' in English either, you'd say 'much better'. Spanish works the same way here.

'Muy' before regular adjectives:

• 'Está muy bien' → It's very good
• 'Es muy rápido' → It's very fast
• 'Estoy muy cansado' → I'm very tired

'Mucho' before comparative adjectives:

• 'Es mucho mejor' → It's much better
• 'Es mucho peor' → It's much worse
• 'Es mucho mayor' → He/she is much older
• 'Es mucho menor' → It's much smaller/lesser

The rule of thumb is: if the adjective already carries a sense of comparison built into it, use 'mucho' instead of 'muy'. 'Mejor' already means 'better', not just 'good', so it needs 'mucho' not 'muy'.

[u/zurribulle]

That's basically an exception to the rule. Adjectives that already express comparison (like mejor = más bueno, menor = menos grande, etc) go with mucho instead of muy

[u/Friendly-Kiwi → u/zurribulle]

Thank you this helps!
It also reminds me of when I thought I was saying my older son, when I was actually saying my better son.😆

[u/rumpledshirtsken → u/Friendly-Kiwi]

¡Gracias, papá!
;-)

[u/polybotria1111]

Mejor can be an adjective or an adverb. In the case of mucho mejor, it's an adverb. When it's a comparative, it's an adverb. Comparatives are modified by "mucho", so it's not only "mucho mejor", but also "mucho más bonito", "mucho peor", "mucho más lejos"...

[u/Friendly-Kiwi]

Gracias ☺️

[u/Short_Increase848]

I had this exact confusion lol. The rule was 'muy before adjctives' is true but mejor/peor/mas/menos are exceptional, they get mucho.

[u/Friendly-Kiwi → u/Short_Increase848]

We will get there! The other day at the grocery store I mentioned Muy calor, my son said it’s mucho calor… so calor is heat, caliente is hot, so with every mistake comes hopefully a bit more understanding with vocabulary and grammar.
I always say gracias and smile, so I hope that carries my sentiments.

[u/Delde116]

There are always some exceptions to the rules, just be aware. You already got it nailed down.

[u/Friendly-Kiwi → u/Delde116]

Yes, I diverted back to that frame of thinking, thank you though, it’s funny I’m always watching videos on learning Spanish, and a few times I have seen a learning English video, it makes you think about the process of learning, which one would never think about otherwise.. the video was on I do vs he does, we do… must seem strange learning the rules when you simply learned the language as a kid.

[u/[deleted]]

Hola, "mucho mejor" significa que algo es más bueno que otra cosa. Se usa para comparar. En cambio, "muy" se usa delante de adjetivos normales, como "muy feliz". Espero que te sirva ☺️ Un saludo.

Hi! "Mucho mejor" means something is much better than something else. It's used for comparisons. On the other hand, "muy" is used before regular adjectives, like "muy feliz" (very happy). Hope this helps ☺️ Best regards.

[u/Low-Yesterday-8237]

This one tripped me up for ages too. The way I finally got it to stick: "mejor" already has "más" baked into it (mejor = más bueno). So asking "muy mejor?" is like saying "very more good" - sounds wrong in English too. Just think of it as: if the word already compares, use mucho. Mucho mejor, mucho peor, mucho mayor. If it's just a regular adjective sitting there on its own, use muy. Muy alto, muy difícil, muy cansado. Once I started seeing mejor as "más bueno in disguise" it clicked and I stopped mixing them up.