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Ellos comen demasiado y solamente hay tres pasteles.

Ellos comen demasiado y solamente hay tres pasteles.
They eat too much and there are only three cakes.
From Lesson 72:Adverbs of quantity (demasiado, bastante)·Spanish (Latin America)

Questions & Answers about Ellos comen demasiado y solamente hay tres pasteles.

Why is it demasiado and not demasiados if Ellos is plural?
In this sentence, demasiado is an adverb describing the verb comen (how much they eat), meaning "too much". When used as an adverb to describe an action, it never changes its ending. If it were describing a plural noun instead, like "too many cakes", it would act as an adjective and change to match the noun: demasiados pasteles.
Could I use solo instead of solamente here?
Yes! Both solo and solamente mean "only", and they are perfectly interchangeable in this sentence. solamente is just the longer adverb form, created by adding -mente, which is very similar to adding "-ly" to words in English.
I know hay means "there is" or "there are", but why doesn't it change for the plural "three cakes"?
The word hay is a special form of the verb haber. In Spanish, we use exactly the same word whether we are talking about one thing ("there is") or multiple things ("there are"). It never takes a plural form like regular verbs.
Does solamente have to go before hay?
Not necessarily. You could also say y hay solamente tres pasteles. Adverbs like solamente are quite flexible in Spanish and can often go right before or right after the verb they modify.

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