Breakdown of Un centenar de empleados está en la calle ahora.
de
from / of
un
a, an (masculine)
en
in / on / at
estar
to be (location/state)
ahora
now
la calle
the street
el empleado
the employee
el centenar
the hundred / the about a hundred
Questions & Answers about Un centenar de empleados está en la calle ahora.
Why use un centenar instead of cien?
Cien is an exact number acting as an adjective (cien empleados = exactly 100 employees). Un centenar is a collective noun meaning a group of a hundred or about a hundred. It is often used in news or storytelling to give an estimate or to emphasize a large crowd rather than an exact headcount.
Why do we need the preposition de between centenar and empleados?
Why is the verb singular (está) if there are a hundred people?
The formal grammatical subject of the sentence is the singular collective noun un centenar, not the plural empleados. Therefore, the verb formally agrees with the singular subject. Note that in everyday spoken Spanish, you will often hear the plural están in structures like this because speakers are thinking about the plural employees, but está is grammatically safer and correct.
Does está en la calle just mean they are physically standing outside?
Learn Un centenar de empleados está en la calle ahora and more in Spanish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free