Hi Setenta, I hope that with these explanations, you'll understand it very well.
★ "mucho, mucha, muchos and muchas", with varying of gender and number, can be an adjective meaning:
• Abundant, large, intense, exceeding normal
→ mucho amor (lots of love)
→ mucho humo (a lot of smoke )
→ mucha gente (many people)
→ mucha agua (much water)
→ mucha más agua que (much more water than)
→ muchos amigos (many friends)
→ muchas mujeres (many women)
★ It can also be an adverb meaning:
• In high grade or high amount.
→ Me gustó mucho la novela (I liked the novel a lot/very much)
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★ The forms "tanto, tanta, tantos and tantas", with varying of gender and number, go before nouns, for example: tantas casas, tantos árboles, tanta belleza, tanto viento.
The quantifier "tan" is a shorter form of "tanto" used before adjectives and adverbs, and that modifies verbs.
Uses of the quantifier "tanto" or "tan" ____________________
• As comparative equality. In this case the second term is introduced by "como":
→ Es tan alto como su padre (He's as tall as his father).
→ En este curso hay tantas chicas como chicos (In this course there are many girls as boys).
• As intensive quantifier followed by a consecutive sentence introduced by the conjunction "que":
→ Es tan inteligente que él se graduará pronto (He's so smart that he'll graduate soon).
→ En esta clase hay tantos alumnos que no caben en el aula (In this class there are many students who don't fit in the classroom).
→ Hoy se ha portado tan mal que no saldrá a jugar (Today she has behaved so badly that she won't come out to play).
• "Tanto" + "como" = Conjunction composed:
→ Estudia tanto de día como de noche (He studies both day and night).
→ Conoce tanto la historia como la geografía de su país (She meet both history and geography of their country).
I sincerely hope this helps, Setenta. Have a nice day!