Spanish: An Essential Grammar

In the above examples todoappears before the item it modifies. However,

it can be moved to other positions in the sentence, still agreeing with the

associated noun:

Los alumnos son todos muy simpáticos.

The students are all very nice.

La habitación estaba toda pintada de azul.

The whole room was painted blue.

Used with nouns referring to periods of time, todos/as + definite article

translates English ‘every’:

todos los meses every month

todas las semanas every week

Todo + neuter article or demonstrative

Todocan be used as in 9.9.1.1 but with the neuter article or a neuter

demonstrative:

todo lo demás everything else

todo esto/eso/aquello all this/that

Todo + relative pronoun

Todos los que/todas las que‘all (those)/everyone who’ and the neuter todo

lo que‘all/everything that’ are common relative constructions. Los/lasand

locannot be omitted:

Entrevistamos a todos los que asistieron.

We interviewed all those who attended.

Nos mostraron todo lo que habían encontrado.

They showed us everything that they had found.

Notes:

1 For the use of cuantoas an alternative to the above, see 25.8.

2 Todos los queis also occasionally replaced by todo el quewith a singular verb:

Todo el que pasó la saludó‘Everyone who passed waved to her’.

Todo + indefinite article

This pattern is possible but it tends to have an emphatic rather than a literal

meaning. Thus it usually means ‘a real’ rather than ‘a whole’:

9.9.1.4

9.9.1.3

9.9.1.2

1111

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

1011

1

12111

3 4 5 6 7 8 9

20111

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

30111

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

40

41111

9

Indefinite
adjectives,
pronouns and
adverbs

90