"Él come de todo" vs "Él come todo."

Question

I struck this question, "Él come de todo," in a Spanish to English course and it is giving Spanish speakers problems because the translation is "He eats anything," not "He eats everything" as many of them think it should. My understanding is that "Él come de todo" is like saying "He eats of everything" meaning there is nothing that he won't eat, which is why "He eats anything" is the best English translation (although an argument could still be made for "He eats everything"). By comparison "Él come todo" simply says "He eats everything." Can someone please confirm this is correct.

Thanks for posting this. I've learned something new today! - Jubilado, May 25, 2015

Yes, very interesting question. - rac1, May 26, 2015

don't complicate yourself I use them in that way ;) sometimes 'come todo' and 'como de todo' are the same in the right context - Pablo064, May 27, 2015

Answer 1

Hello Jellonz,

Welcome to the SpanishDict forum.

I found the sentence:

Él come de todo = He eats anything

...in my Oxford English Spanish Dictionary.

However as one if our native speakers Txusta boy says this particular sentence is in correct ...

in Spain they say, instead:Él se come todo

= He eats up everything.

I hope this helps

Corrijan mi español si es necesario, por favor

This is why you have 1000+ badges! - Jubilado, May 25, 2015

Thanks Jubilado :) - FELIZ77, May 25, 2015

Gracias Feliz. Yep, I think the Spanish speakers I was referring to are getting confused by the English use of "anything" when normally "todo" would translate to "everything." I wanted to confirm that it was the "de" that altered the meaning in this way. - jellonz, May 25, 2015

"Él come todo" means nothing. It is incorrect. - txustaboy, May 26, 2015

Thank you for the correction, Txustaboy. I have deleted my post in order to avoid unintentionally misleading any beginners ! - FELIZ77, May 26, 2015

Maybe I didn't explain it well. "Él come todo is incorrect" but "Él come de todo" is ok - txustaboy, May 27, 2015

Creo que no es necesario borrar los "posts" cuando hay algún error. Creo que bastaría con marcar lo incorrecto, pero manteniendolo, así la gente puede entender mejor las explicaciones y no cometer esos mismos errores. - txustaboy, May 27, 2015

¡Muchas gracias por tu explicación, Txusta! :) ¡Borré mi post ayer sólo porque tenia mucha vergüenza por debido a cometar un error tan básico y estúpido! - FELIZ77, May 27, 2015

Answer 2

In Spain, it is not common say Él come todo, we use to say Él se [come][comió][ha comido] todo.

EDIT: After looking the post of Feliz, I think I created a confusion

My first sentence explanation is ok, but I didn't write any about the other sentence:

Él come de todois also correct but the meaning is different

Is that because "comerse" means "to eat up" as in more emphatic? So "Él come pollo" but "Él se come todo"? - jellonz, May 26, 2015

No, it is in that way because it is in that way :). There is no other reason. "Él come pollo" and "él se come todo" are both correct - txustaboy, May 26, 2015

Answer 3

"he eats anything" The use of anything here implies that there are many options to Choose from. And "he eats everything ", means "all the content" Like in "Eat everthing in your plate" (all of it) Eat anything in your plate" (you can choose). So Everything is "todo" Anything is "de todo" / "cualquier" (opcion disponible)

Just my two cents!

Answer 4

I forgot many spanish words because i dont use it often, but in my opinion based on everyday use of some spanish word in my country. I prefer gusta instead of come. Gusta los todos que estan deliciosos.

It would help if you added the Spanish and English levels to your profile. :) - rac1, May 26, 2015

Gustan los todos?? OMG it doesn't have sense in Spanish - txustaboy, May 27, 2015

'a él le gusta todo lo que es delicioso' did you mean? :) - Pablo064, May 27, 2015