How do you use the word "poco"? Does it mean "little" or "very"?

Question

I just translated the Spanish phrase "lindo es poco" = "is very nice". But the definition of the word "poco" = "little" in English.

Answer 1

Poco Can be used to mean either little when used as an adjective or to mean very when used as an adverb

Poco = little used as adjective) poco = very (Used as adverb)

But to say It is very lovely - it would be better to say = Es muy lindo/a

( Whether it is lindo (masc) or linda (fem) depends on what is lovely. If the noun represented by es = it is...... is feminine you would use linda
or masculine ... lindo )

For example el es un niño muy lindo = the little boy is lovely/cute but... la perrita es linda

I was wondering if the usage of "poco" in "lindo es poco" is a kind of slang. - razhbi, May 22, 2010

or informal use and "es muy lindo" is the formal version. - razhbi, May 22, 2010

I don't think that lindo es poco is slang it means ''small is beautiful'' The Spanish and English will have different ways to say the same thing the ie: the sentence construction/word order will be different - FELIZ77, Dec 2, 2011

Answer 2

(this is a situation as an example)

if someone asked me (in spanish) how much spanish i speak, i would reply 'un poco' meaning very little

does that help??

Answer 3

Is this an attempt to translate "small is beautiful"?

Good one! ^_^ I kinda thought it meant "it's a little nice" or "sorta nice" - razhbi, May 22, 2010

turns out it's completely opposite...on Google Translate anyway. I'm still trying to figure it out - razhbi, May 22, 2010