Breakdown of Más de treinta personas respondieron la encuesta.
de
from / of
la persona
person
treinta
thirty
más
more
responder
to answer, to reply
la encuesta
the survey
Questions & Answers about Más de treinta personas respondieron la encuesta.
Why do we use más de instead of más que in this sentence?
Because we are talking about a specific number (treinta). In Spanish, when 'more than' or 'less than' is followed by a number, you must use más de or menos de. You use más que when comparing things, qualities, or actions (for example: él corre más que yo - he runs more than me).
I thought 'to answer' required an a, like responder a. Why is it missing before la encuesta?
Responder can be used directly without a preposition when you are answering a thing, like a question, a test, or a survey (la encuesta). However, adding the a is also completely correct here, so respondieron a la encuesta means the exact same thing. Just remember that if you are answering a person, you always need the personal a (like respondieron a María).
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