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My understanding is that the translation of "más que nada" is "more than anything." Literally, but incorrectly, it would be "more than nothing".

Question 1: if you are a native Spanish speaker, and you contemplate this phrase "más que nada", word for word, are you able in some way to literally interpret that in your mind, and it makes sense to you? Could you explain the thought process?

Or is it an "idiom", an "expression", so that the only way to understand it is considering the whole phrase.

If you ask me about "Once upon a time" in English, I would say this is an idiom. Examining each word, especially "upon", it doesn't make sense.

However, we can literally interpret "more than anything". Let's consider "anything"... it might mean any goal you have in mind. Any and all possibilities. Next, you may desire something more than all those possibilities. So, "more than anything".

Question 2: What if I say in English "At least you have a dollar in your pocket. At least, that's more than nothing."

Could you translate the sentence into Spanish? It superficially appears that could also be "más que nada", but having a different meaning than before.

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    Nada = nada en particular. Las cosas siguen estando, aunque no quieras referirte a ninguna de ellas. Lo cual es distinto a referirse al concepto de nada como una suerte de ‘vacío’. Por lo tanto, no deberíamos sorprendernos de que en este caso nada y anything sean equivalentes.
    – tac
    Commented Jun 21 at 13:40

2 Answers 2

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You are asking about a colloquial spanish expression that means "mainly" and "above all"

mas que nada

could be thought as more than anything else. (See what RAEInforma explains in this X answer)

(1) The way I parse the idiom in my head is thinking that it refers to something for which there's nothing else above, overpassing its importance

¿Por qué cocinas las papas de esa manera?
— Porque así lo aprendí de mi madre, y más que que nada, porque me resulta más rápida esa manera

Why do you cook potatos in such a way?
— Because that is the way I learned it from my mother, and mainly cause I go faster like that

(2) As for the other question, no. The mas que nada would not be a correct usage in your proposed example

"At least you have a dollar in your pocket. At least, that's more than nothing." would be better reflected saying: "Al menos tienes un dolar en el bolsillo. Eso es mejor que nada"

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  • Is it possible for "Es mejor que nada" to be interpreted as "It's better than anything"?
    – Sebastian Pojman-Malo
    Commented Jun 26 at 22:37
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    That is another idiom, you could ask in a separate cuestion, but "Mejor que nada" = Better than nothing, (ie: "*Necesitaban el 30%, pero tuvieron que consolarse pensando que un 12% de aumento salarial era mejor que nada." —They needed 30%, but had to comfort themselves thinking that 12% of salary raise was better than nothing)
    – ipp
    Commented Jun 26 at 23:07
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In Spanish we have a different use of anything than in English.

"más que nada" is "more than anything."

This is wrong, "more than anything" is literaly "más que algo" and does not correspond to "más que nada".

Second:

"más que nada" itself is an idiom 100% of the time.

For example:

Estoy nervioso pero mas que nada feliz

Voy a estudiar, más que nada para acabar todos los exámenes

Usaré corbata, más que nada para estar presentable

Le dije hola, más que nada para que note mi presencia

The example of the question:

At least you have a dollar in your pocket. At least, that's more than nothing

Correctly it would be:

Al menos tienes un dólar en el bolsillo, eso es mejor que nada

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  • Are you certain "más que algo" means the same as "more than anything" does in English? This use of "anything" is not a synonym of "something".
    – Dan Getz
    Commented Jun 21 at 17:03
  • What I'm sure is nada means nothing, not anything or something. Anyway, as I wrote, the use of anything in English is different than in Spanish
    – Danielillo
    Commented Jun 21 at 17:06
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    Yes, I agree the use is different. I think that's because negation works differently in "standard" varieties of English than it does in Spanish. I think that means you can't directly compare these words in isolation. My point was, I thought OP compared "más que nada" to "more than anything" because they know something about this.
    – Dan Getz
    Commented Jun 21 at 18:55
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    The point is the example in the question is a bit biased and is not the usual use of más que nada as an idiom. That's why I put my examples where they are comparative options NOT quantifiable.
    – Danielillo
    Commented Jun 21 at 19:47
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    Your answer here says "This is wrong" however Google Translate, DeepL, and many other webpages suggest the translation is "more than anything" or "more than anything else".
    – Sam
    Commented Jun 21 at 21:26

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