Learn Spanish (Latin America): ¿Cuánta comida comparten ustedes?

¿Cuánta comida comparten ustedes?

How much food are you all sharing?

Breakdown of ¿Cuánta comida comparten ustedes?

Questions & Answers about ¿Cuánta comida comparten ustedes?

Why use cuánta instead of cuánto here?

The word for "how much" has to match the noun it describes in gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural). Since comida is a feminine singular word, we use cuánta. If you were asking about a masculine word like pan (bread), you would use cuánto.

Why is the verb comparten translated as "are sharing" instead of "share"?

In Spanish, the simple present tense like comparten is very flexible. It can mean both "you all share" (as an everyday habit) and "you all are sharing" (happening right now). You don't need a separate "-ing" verb here to mean "are sharing"!

Why does ustedes come at the end of the question?

In Spanish questions, the subject (the person doing the action, like ustedes) usually swaps places with the verb (comparten) and goes after it. Asking ¿Cuánta comida comparten ustedes? sounds much more natural than putting ustedes before the verb.

Could I leave out the word ustedes?

Yes, you could just say ¿Cuánta comida comparten? However, because the verb ending -en is used for both "they" (ellos/ellas) and "you all" (ustedes), including ustedes makes it perfectly clear exactly who you are asking.