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Should “todo tipo” be pluralized when translating the phrase, “all types of”? Consider this sentence:

I grow all types/kinds of vegetables.

Which of the below would be the correct translation and why?

Cultivo todo tipo de verduras.

Cultivo todos tipos de verduras.

3 Answers 3

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They are both right (except that you must add "los" as seen below) depending on what you mean. It depends on whether you grow vegetables of any type you want, or you grow vegetables of every type possible (which are not the same thing):

Cultivo de todo tipo de verdura. = You grow what you feel like.

Cultivo todos los tipos de verdura. = You really grow all types/kinds of vegetables there are.

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    "Cultivo de todo tipo de verdura" sounds awful. The first de adds nothing.
    – Zhen
    Apr 8, 2014 at 12:58
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    It's better not to say "they are both right" if you go on to correct one of the sentences. "Cultivo todos tipos de verdura" is not correct, or at least, it's cacophonic. Apr 8, 2014 at 13:16
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The first sentence is correct. You shouldn't pluralize "todo tipo" in this sentence.

When to use something like your second sentence? Well, I could say "Tengo una plantación con todos los tipos de tomate que existen en mi país" (I own a plantation with all the types of tomato that exist in my country). "Noé trajo al arca a todos los tipos de animales" (Noah brought to the ark all the kinds of animals".

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They both make sense to me even without adding "los". Might be compared to saying

"any way of doing it" and "any ways of doing it"

("cualquier manera de hacerlo" and "cualesquiera maneras de hacerlo").


Now with "all":

"all way of doing it" and "all ways of doing it",

"toda manera de hacerlo" y "todas maneras de hacerlo".


If we think of all sentences in the same sense, they sound correct. To try to get closer to my point, we could separate:

"all [way of doing it]" and "[all ways of] doing it".


There's some uneasiness for adding "las" to "todas – maneras de hacerlo" but if we understood "all way of doing it" we can understand the former in the same sense, like something that can be called like separate things or as a whole, since all ways are correct, there's no difference in naming one or many; sorry if my explanation is fuzzy, my english is not excellent.

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