Lo mucho que

[Tyrn]

Hi,

These are two phrases on the same page:

...lo mucho que Derry había crecido.

and

...cuánto había cambiado todo.

Looks like cuanto and lo mucho que are interchangeable whenever I want to say "how much it (changed, grew, etc.)". Is it really so?

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

They mean the same in a statement, but structures are different.
- Me impresiona lo mucho que ha crecido el niño.
- Me impresiona cuánto ha crecido el niño.
I'm amazed at how much the boy has grown up.

- Sé lo mucho que te importa este negocio.
- Sé cuánto te importa este negocio.
I know how much you care about this business.


But they're not the same in indirect questions or when expressing doubt:
- Dime cuánto me quieres. (I don't know how much they love me.)
- Dime lo mucho que me quieres. (I asume they love me much and I want to hear just that.)
Tell me how much you love me.

- Ya no sé cuánto saben los alumnos de matemáticas. (I have no idea if they know anything at all.)
- Ya no sé lo mucho que saben los alumnos de matemáticas. (This would be a strange construction, because I would be assuming they do know quite a lot and I'm uncertain about how much that is. Yet, there may be other ways to express this.)
I don't know how much the students know about maths anymore.


And in questions you can't use "lo mucho":
- ¿Cuánto ha crecido el pueblo?
- ¿Cuánto han cambiado las cosas?

You'd ask instead:
- ¿Ha crecido mucho el pueblo?
- ¿Han cambiado mucho las cosas?

[Tyrn]

Thank you very much!

I like it a lot, especially about love. I suppose, though, it's second person singular, rather than third person plural (in English).

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

I used "they" as a person of any gender, but you are right. Using "you" would have been enough. Thanks! :)