Breakdown of El hombre de quien hablamos no es más que un inventor.
ser
to be
de
from / of
no
no, not
un
a, an (masculine)
hablar
to speak / to talk
el hombre
the man
que
that / than
más
more
quien
whom / who (relative singular)
el inventor
inventor
Questions & Answers about El hombre de quien hablamos no es más que un inventor.
The current lesson covers both sino and no ... más que. Why is no ... más que the right choice here?
no ... más que translates to "nothing more than" or "only." It restricts or limits what the man is. sino means "but rather" and is used to correct a false statement with a true one, which requires two contrasting ideas (for example, "He is not a scientist, but rather an inventor" -> No es científico, sino inventor).
Could I use solo instead of the no ... más que structure here?
Why is the preposition de placed before quien?
In Spanish, you can never leave a preposition "dangling" at the end of a sentence like we often do in English ("the man we speak about"). The preposition must immediately precede the relative pronoun it belongs to, resulting in de quien hablamos (about whom we speak).
Why does this sentence use un before inventor when we usually drop the article for professions?
You normally drop the article when simply stating someone's profession (e.g., Él es inventor). However, because of the phrase no es más que, the word inventor is being treated as a specific restricted noun ("a mere inventor") rather than just a general category, so the un sounds much more natural here.
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