Tal / Tan / Tanto / Tanta... Ayuda por favor...
A veces me encuentro confundido por estas palabras. Creo que puedo entenderlos cuando los veo, y espero que puedo hacerme claro cuando trato usarlos, pero no estoy seguro. Unos ejemplos serían utiles.
3 Answers
1) Tal: It has no relation with the other three word, and its use could be really difficult to explain. Its main meanings are as such or that, but as I just write, it is better that you look for its complete meaning in a Spanish grammar web,
Tal cosa jamás se ha visto ->
2). Tan: Generally, it is used as comparative (as):
El es tan alto como tú -> He is as tall as you
3) Tanto/a: This is different...the RAE dictionary gives it 15 different meanings/uses. But one of its main uses is to indicate a known quantity when the quantity is not measurable or an unknown quantity:
No debes trabajar "tanto" -> You shouldn´t work so much
In a similar way works in comparations:
Maria trabaja tanto como Jesús -> Maria works as much as Jesús
This is a short explanation because your question requires a longer one. I tried to do a quick sinopsis but probably I forgot some aspects of the use of tanto. In this web I have found a useful exercise for English speakers:
Un example for you of 'tal' : Vamos a conocer a un tal señor Gomez.( We are going to meet a certain Mr. Gomez.)
Tal, is, as Txtaboy says, not really related to the other two. Tal vez ( perhaps/maybe/if)
Thanks, Txustaboy. I'll take it from you that there's no etymological relationship between tal and tal and tan/tanto. I think my confusion lies in their similar means, or at least in the similarity between so/such in English and tel/tellement in French.
To take your first example, 'tal cosa jamás se ha visto', if I would wish to say 'so beautiful a thing has never been seen', would I say 'tal hermosa', 'tan hermosa' or 'tanta hermosa' ?
