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Los búhos construyeron menos nidos de los que necesitaban.

Los búhos construyeron menos nidos de los que necesitaban.
The owls built fewer nests than they needed.
From Lesson 280:Clausal comparatives with nouns (del que, de la que)·Spanish (Latin America)

Questions & Answers about Los búhos construyeron menos nidos de los que necesitaban.

Why is "than" translated as de los que instead of just que?
When comparing a noun (like nidos) to a conjugated verb or a whole clause (like necesitaban), we don't use que. Instead, we use a phrase like del que or de los que. You can think of menos nidos de los que as meaning "fewer nests than the ones that" they needed.
How do I know to use los in de los que?
The article inside this phrase has to match the noun you are comparing. Since nidos (nests) is masculine and plural, we use los to match it. If the sentence was about building fewer houses (casas), it would be menos casas de las que necesitaban.
Why does this sentence mix the preterite (construyeron) and the imperfect (necesitaban)?
The preterite is used for construyeron because the building of the nests was a completed action. The imperfect is used for necesitaban because needing the nests was an ongoing state or background situation at that time.
Why is there a "y" in construyeron?
The verb construir (to build) ends in "-uir". In the preterite tense, the "i" in the ending changes to a "y" in the third-person forms to avoid having three vowels in a row where the middle one is weak. That is why it becomes construyeron instead of "construieron".

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