Learn Spanish (Latin America): Trabajo más o menos ocho horas.

Trabajo más o menos ocho horas.

I work more or less eight hours.

Breakdown of Trabajo más o menos ocho horas.

Questions & Answers about Trabajo más o menos ocho horas.

The current lesson is about using más and menos to compare things. Why isn't there a que (than) in this sentence?

In this sentence, we aren't actually comparing two things. Instead, más and menos are combined to make the extremely common set phrase más o menos, which means "more or less," "about," or "approximately."

Where is the word for "I" in this sentence?

The word for "I" is yo, but it is usually left out in Spanish. The verb ending already tells you who is doing the action. Because the verb trabajar (to work) has the -o ending here (trabajo), it can only mean "I work."

Does the "h" in horas make a breathing sound like in English?

No, the letter "h" is always completely silent in Spanish. You just pronounce the vowel right after it, so horas is pronounced "OR-as".

Can I use the phrase más o menos in other contexts?

Yes! Besides meaning "approximately" like in this sentence, más o menos is frequently used to mean "so-so." If someone asks how you are doing, you can simply reply with más o menos.