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Des noix et des olives, j'en ai acheté beaucoup.

Des noix et des olives, j'en ai acheté beaucoup.
Walnuts and olives, I bought a lot of them.
From Lesson 304:Past participles with quantities (en)·French

Questions & Answers about Des noix et des olives, j'en ai acheté beaucoup.

Why isn't the past participle acheté plural to agree with noix and olives?
Normally, a past participle agrees with a preceding direct object. However, when that object is the pronoun en, the past participle never agrees. Even though en refers to the feminine plural nouns noix and olives, acheté remains invariable in its default masculine singular form.
What exactly is en replacing in this sentence?
The pronoun en replaces the 'de + nouns' part of a quantity phrase, translating roughly to 'of them'. Without the pronoun, the sentence would be J'ai acheté beaucoup de noix et d'olives. The en takes the place of de noix et d'olives, leaving the quantity word beaucoup behind.
Why is beaucoup placed at the very end of the sentence?
When you use en to replace the things you are counting or measuring, the quantity word itself (like beaucoup, un peu, or a number) stays at the end of the clause. The structure is basically 'I of them have bought a lot'.
Why state the nouns at the beginning and then use a pronoun anyway?
This is a very common conversational habit in French called left-dislocation. By stating Des noix et des olives first, the speaker highlights the topic before commenting on it. It provides the same casual emphasis as saying 'Walnuts and olives, I bought a lot of those' in English.

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