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¿Hay tantos habitantes en España como en Francia?

¿Hay tantos habitantes en España como en Francia?
Are there as many inhabitants in Spain as in France?
From Lesson 107:Noun comparatives (tanto como)·Spanish (Spain)

Questions & Answers about ¿Hay tantos habitantes en España como en Francia?

Why is it tantos here instead of tanto or tantas?
Tanto changes its ending to match the noun it describes. Because it is describing habitantes (inhabitants), which is a masculine plural group here, we use the masculine plural form tantos.
How do I know habitantes is masculine if the singular ends in "-e"?
Nouns ending in -ante that refer to people usually share the same form for both men and women (like el estudiante and la estudiante). When referring to a general population of mixed genders, Spanish defaults to the masculine plural, so we treat habitantes as masculine.
Why do we need the second en in como en Francia?
It keeps the comparison balanced. You are comparing how many inhabitants there are in Spain (en España) to how many there are in France (en Francia). While English sometimes drops the second "in", Spanish strongly prefers to repeat the preposition.
Why does the sentence use hay for "are there" instead of a form of estar?
Hay is the special, unchangeable word used to say "there is" or "there are" (and "is there?" / "are there?"). We use it to talk about the general existence or quantity of things, whereas están would be used to talk about the location of specific people you already know exist.

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