comparing things in italian: equality ("as much as")

Last week we learned how to describe a noun with more or less of a quality than another noun, or how to describe a single noun with more or less of one quality than another. The key words here are "more or less". But what about when nouns possess equal amounts of qualities? In English we use the construction "as...as" (e.g. Jen is as pretty as a flower). But what about Italian? You have two options:

Mario e’ tanto intelligente quanto Giovanni.

OR

Mario e’ cosi’ intelligente come Giovanni.

(Which both translate, “Mario is as intelligent as Giovanni.”)

Tanto…quanto can be used to compare nouns or adjectives. When used with adjectives, however, it is invariable (no agreement). Cosi’…come can be used with adjectives only. You don’t use cosi’...come with nouns (to compare their quantities), only with adjectives (to compare qualities).

So you would say, “Mario e’ tanto intelligente quanto Marco,” or, “Mario e’ cosi’ intelligente come Marco.”

But, “Mario ha tanti amici quanto Marco.” (Not cosi’…come because you’re comparing quantities of nouns.)

In tanto…quanto constructions with nouns, the tanto and quanto agree in gender and number ONLY with nouns they describe quantities of.

A Toronto ci sono tanti ragazzi quante ragazze.

BUT:

I ragazzi hanno tanti soldi quanto le ragazze.

No quantity of girls is referred to in the second sentence, only a quantity of money. Hence no agreement of quanto with ragazze.

If you make the quanto agree with ragazze in the second sentence (I ragazzi hanno tanti soldi quante ragazze), you’re saying, “The boys have as much money as (they have) girls.”

Hope this is clear! Feel free to post questions in the comments or forum. Ciao for now!

Comments

[Ken]

This form of comparison is driving me crazy. Would you kindly provide more sample sentences and perhaps a quiz?

[Sandy]

Test today. THANK YOU SO MUCH!