¡La de imanes que venden aquí!

Questions & Answers about ¡La de imanes que venden aquí!

Why use la de instead of cuántos to say "how many"?
The phrase la de followed by a noun and que is a common exclamatory structure used to emphasize a ridiculously huge quantity. While ¡cuántos imanes venden aquí! is perfectly correct, using la de adds a colorful, conversational punch, translating closer to "The incredible amount of..." It essentially stands in for the phrase la cantidad de.
Since imanes is a masculine plural word, why don't we say los de imanes?
The la in this structure is fixed; it never changes to match the noun. This is because la is actually referring to the hidden feminine singular word cantidad (amount). You can think of the exclamation as a shortened version of la cantidad de imanes que.
Why is there an essential que in the middle of this exclamation?
In the structure la de + noun + que + verb, the que is a relative pronoun connecting the noun (imanes) to the action happening to it (venden). It works exactly like the word "that" in the English translation: "The amount of magnets that they sell here!"
The singular word for magnet is imán. Why is there no written accent mark on imanes?
Words naturally stress the second-to-last syllable if they end in a vowel, n, or s. Imán breaks this rule by stressing the last syllable, so it needs a written accent. When you add -es to make imanes, an extra syllable is created. The natural stress now falls on the second-to-last syllable (ma), so the written accent is no longer needed.
Who exactly is the subject of venden here?
This is an impersonal use of the third-person plural, which means "they." Just like in English when we say "they sell a lot of things here," it does not refer to specific people you can point to. It simply refers to the vendors or the establishment in general.

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