Breakdown of Vendí tantas canastas que necesité las del otro vendedor.
necesitar
to need
las
the (feminine plural)
del
from the / of the
que
that / than
vender
to sell
otro
other
el vendedor
the salesperson
tanto
as much / as many / so much
la canasta
the basket
Questions & Answers about Vendí tantas canastas que necesité las del otro vendedor.
Why do we use tantas here instead of tan?
In Spanish, we use tan before adjectives and adverbs to mean "so", but we use tanto (and its forms) before nouns to mean "so much" or "so many". Since it modifies the feminine plural noun canastas, it has to take the feminine plural form tantas.
Is it ever correct to say tan muchas canastas for "so many baskets"?
How does las del translate to "the ones from the"?
The definite article las is acting as a pronoun here, replacing las canastas so we don't have to repeat the noun. When followed by the preposition de (of or from), a definite article translates naturally to "the one" or "the ones" in English. The word del is simply the mandatory contraction of de and el (from the).
Both Vendí and necesité are in the preterite tense. Why not the imperfect?
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