Breakdown of Es waren höchstens zwanzig Leute da.
sein
to be
die Leute
the people
zwanzig
twenty
da
there
höchstens
at most
Questions & Answers about Es waren höchstens zwanzig Leute da.
Why is it Es waren instead of Es war, since Es is a singular pronoun?
When es is used as a dummy subject (similar to "there" in "there are"), the verb agrees with the actual subject that comes later in the sentence. Since zwanzig Leute (twenty people) is plural, the verb must be the plural waren.
The translation says "There were...", so why does the German sentence start with Es instead of Da?
To express "there is" or "there are" to introduce the existence of something, German uses es (as in es gibt, es ist, or es sind/waren). The word da is used for physical location, which is exactly why it appears at the very end of this sentence to mean "present" or "in that place".
If I change the word order to start with Höchstens zwanzig Leute, where does the es go?
It disappears completely! When es is merely a structural placeholder to fill the first position of a sentence, it drops out if another phrase moves into position one. You would simply say: Höchstens zwanzig Leute waren da.
How is the word höchstens (at most) formed?
It is built from the superlative form of hoch (high), which is höchst-. Adding the ending -ens to a superlative adjective turns it into an adverb of degree. You will see this same pattern in other useful words like spätestens (at the latest) or mindestens (at least).
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