When to use "Tanto"

Question

In the sentence Tanto Juan como Ana son vegetarianos

I assume translates to: Juan like Ana are vegatartians

Could you not simply say : Juan y Ana son vegetarianos

I thought that Tanto meant "so much" I am assuming in this case it means "both" Can someone please clarify that, Thanks

"Both" = "ambos." - someone09, Apr 3, 2011

"Juan like Ana is a vegetarian." ("like" is not a coodinating conjunction [the subject is "John" not "John and Ana"]). - samdie, Apr 3, 2011

Uhhh, punctuation! Juan, like Ana, is a vegetarian. - Lector_Constante, Apr 3, 2011

Answer 1

Could you not simply say : "Juan y Ana son vegetarianos."

If you were talking about absolute qualities, this would be true. If however, you believe that there are degrees of vegetarianism then one can make distinctions and it is reasonable to say that "John is just as much a vegetarian as Ana."

There exist other (more precise terms) but, loosely speaking, there are three groups of food that can distinguish among varieties of vegetarianism. "meat"/"fowl": everyone seems to agree on this one (it's a no-no). Fish (and, possibly, in a different class, shellfish/mollusks/etc) and eggs and dairy products {some probably distinguish between fertilized and unfertilized eggs]).

Thus, "vegetarian" is not an absolute term and it can make sense to speak of (and distinguish among) more/less/just as much vegetarian.

Answer 2

igbal, I have never seen "tanto" be used for "both". "Ambos" is the word I have seen most often used for "both".

"Tanto" is used most often for "so much", but it has other uses also.

It can be used for comparisons

"tanto como"

"so many" => "tantos" "much again" => "otra tanto"

You can check out other uses with this dicitonary link.

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