Although the primary meanings of incluso and hasta are "including" and "until," both can be used as intensifiers that can translate the English word "even" when it is used as an intensifier.

An intensifier is a word or phrase that makes the meaning of something stronger without adding other meaning of its own. As an example using incluso, note the meaning of this sentence: Allá todos estudian teatro, incluso los taxistas y los mozos.


A literal translation would say "Everyone there is studying theater, including the taxi drivers and waiters." Indeed, that would be an acceptable translation. However, since the speaker is suggesting that there is something unusual or maybe even surprising about who is studying theater, it is more likely that the sentence might be translated like this: "Everyone there is studying theater, even the taxi drivers and waiters." "Even" in that translation is acting as an intensifier to put emphasis on who is studying, and incluso does the same thing.

Here are some other sentences where it may be clearer that incluso is adding emphasis:

• Iré a donde nadie pueda verme, escucharme o incluso hablarme. I'm going to where no one can see me, listen to me or even speak to me.
• Incluso mi hermana me preguntó, "¿estás realmente saliendo con él?" Even my sister asked me, "Are you really going out with him?"
• Todo en exceso es malo incluso las manzanas. Everything in excess is bad, even apples.

Hasta can be used in much the same way:

• Hasta mi primo de 7 años tiene un celular. Even my 7-year-old cousin has a cellphone.
• Hasta Cuba va a tener mejor servicio de internet que el que tenemos aquí en España. Even Cuba is going to have better Internet service than what we have here in Spain.
• Te extraño hasta cuando te veo. I miss you even when I see you.

Sources: Sample sentences in this lesson are adapted from a variety of sources written by native speakers and include: Tumblr, SNSD Mexico, Bajar de Peso, Tell.cl, Yahoo.es, Cadena Ser, discusión de Facebook.