The word "tanto(a)"

Question

How is this supposed to be used in a sentence. It translates to "so much" or "so long". But twice now I've come across it and I simply don't understand how it's translated in context of the sentence.

"Por lo tanto se extiende a lo largo de cuatro años después de la etapa de Educación Primaria" Which I more or less got the gist of "(For?) It spreads itself for (as long?) a length of four years after the primary education stage"

and

"Proporciona la formación necesaria para proseguir estudios tanto de Bachillerato como de Formación Profesional de grado medio" Which I translated as "It provides the necessary training to continue studies (as much)…?"

I know they're not totally right, but can someone fill me in?

Thanks.

It is just a phrase. Yeah a lot of phrases don't make sense when read word by word. I see, thanks. - TheSilentHero, Nov 24, 2009

modismos, idioms like phrasal verbs their overall meaning is different from the individual words. - - 0074b507, Nov 24, 2009

thanks all - TheSilentHero, Nov 25, 2009

Answer 1

"Por lo tanto" is a phrase that means "therefore". Don't try to take it apart and over analyze it. Just learn the phrase.

That is the best advice I can give you for learning lots of phrases in Spanish, because if you take them apart and try to analyze them they never will make sense to you.

Answer 2

Por lo tanto=meanwhile

Tanto ...como...=as many as; as much as

tanto...como... comparisons

really good reference but Mientras = Meanwhile and Por lo tanto = Therefore.... =) - DJ_Huero, Nov 24, 2009

Answer 3

Quentin, the comparison is not the case here, we are talking about a list

estudios tanto de Bachillerato como de Formación . Bachillerato studies as well as formation studies.....

Answer 4

Hi quentin, por lo tanto is not meanwhile but therefore, sometimes whereas....

Tanto ...como : as well as.....