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¡Qué día! Se venden tantas canastas que la tienda ya está vacía.

¡Qué día! Se venden tantas canastas que la tienda ya está vacía.
What a day! So many baskets are sold that the store is already empty.
From Lesson 316:Extreme intensity (tan / tanto que)·Spanish (Latin America)

Questions & Answers about ¡Qué día! Se venden tantas canastas que la tienda ya está vacía.

Why do we use tantas here instead of tan?
Because canastas (baskets) is a noun. When expressing 'so much' or 'so many' before a noun, you must use a form of tanto that matches the noun's gender and number (here, the feminine plural tantas). You only use tan (so) before adjectives or adverbs. Combined with que, it forms the consecutive clause 'so many baskets that...'.
Why is the verb plural in se venden if no specific people are selling the baskets?
This is the passive se construction. While it translates to 'are sold', grammatically in Spanish, the item being sold acts as the subject of the sentence. Because tantas canastas is plural, the verb must also be in the plural form (venden).
Why does the sentence use está vacía rather than es vacía?
We use a form of estar here because being empty (vacía) is a temporary state or condition of the store at this moment, resulting from an action (selling out of baskets). Ser is used for inherent characteristics, and a store isn't inherently empty by nature.
Why is there no word for 'a' in ¡Qué día!?
In English, we say 'What a day!', but Spanish drops the indefinite article in these types of exclamations. You simply use qué directly followed by the noun.

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