Degree
How strong or complete is something?
Meaning
We can show how strong a quality is or how far an action has gone. This can mean a little, very much, enough, too much, or completely. Languages use separate words, endings, or context, and some have no special degree forms. Quantity counts or measures things, while Degree usually measures a quality, a state, or an action.
How to spot it
Look for a word or form that changes the strength of a description or shows how far an action reaches.
In your native language
English uses words such as very, too, almost, and completely to show degree. Very and too usually come before an adjective or adverb, while enough follows it. Very strengthens a description, but too says something goes beyond what is wanted or useful.
This bag is very heavy.
Very strengthens heavy without saying that the weight is a problem.
The soup is too hot to eat.
Too means the heat is beyond a useful limit.
Is the room warm enough?
Enough follows the adjective and asks whether the warmth is sufficient.
In your learning language
Spanish uses words such as muy, bastante, and demasiado to express a high degree, a sufficient degree, or excess. Muy comes before an adjective or adverb, while mucho can express a high degree with a verb. When poco, bastante, mucho, and demasiado describe an action rather than a noun, they do not change their form.
El café está muy caliente.
The coffee is very hot.
Muy strengthens the adjective caliente.
Me alegro mucho de verte.
I'm very glad to see you.
Mucho strengthens the feeling expressed by the verb.
Esta caja pesa demasiado.
This box weighs too much.
Demasiado expresses excess and does not change to match the feminine noun caja.
Learners whose language uses one word to strengthen both adjectives and verbs may confuse muy and mucho, as in *mucho caliente. Learners may also change mucho or demasiado to match the subject, although these words stay unchanged when describing an action.