Spanish Grammar Guide

todo, todos, toda, todas

On this page: Description, Questions, Exercises

Description

An Overview of todo, todos, toda, and todas:

The words todo, todos, toda, and todas have two main functions:

a) as an adjective meaning "all" (to describe a noun), e.g.:

  • Yo leí toda la historia.

b) as a pronoun meaning "all of it/them" (to replace a noun), e.g.:

  • Él se comió todo.
  • Todos van a ir a la fiesta.

The form you use must agree in gender and number with the corresponding noun (i.e.: the noun being modified by the adjective form of todo/a(s) or the noun being replaced and referred back to by the pronominal form of todo/a(s)). Note also that todo/a(s) must be followed by a determiner (e.g.: el, la, etc.). This is illustrated in the following table:

Functions Forms Example adjective/pronoun
masc. sing. todo todo el tiempo/todo va bien
fem. sing. toda toda la comida/voy a comer toda
masc. pl. todos todos los días/todos son largos
fem. pl. todas

todas mis amigas/me caen bien todas

Questions

Questions about todo, toda, todos and todas:

Q: Why is it todos los hombres and NOT todo los hombres?

The particular form of todo/a(s) used depends on the number and gender of the following noun. Since hombres is masculine and plural, the masculine plural form todos must be used.

Q: Why is it ella compró todo and NOT ella compró toda?

When you mean "everything" in general, the masculine singular form todo is used. The feminine form toda is not used to mean "everything" in general, even if the subject of the sentence is feminine, like ella in this example. This is because the form todo is not referring back to ella.

Q: Why is it Quiero manzanas y voy a comprar todas. and NOT Quiero manzanas y voy a comprar todos?

Spanish requires number and gender agreement between the word todo/a(s) and the noun it modifies, or the noun it refers to and replaces when used as a pronoun, as in this example. The word manzanas is both feminine and plural, which is why the correct form of the pronoun that refers back to manzanas is todas.

Exercises

Write the correct form of todo/a(s) according to the context:

Yo comí la torta.
ellos llegaron a tiempo.
Va a estar bien .
Cuando vienen las chicas, van a querer descansar.
Los alumnos estudian el tiempo.
Las computadoras en el laboratorio estaban rotas pero ahora sirven .

Tags: adjectives nouns h muet adverbs
Verb conjugation:
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