Learn Spanish (Spain): La candidata que está nerviosa necesita muchos votos. - The candidate who is nervous needs a lot of votes.

La candidata que está nerviosa necesita muchos votos.

The candidate who is nervous needs a lot of votes.

Breakdown of La candidata que está nerviosa necesita muchos votos.

mucho

a lot

estar

to be (location/state)

nervioso

nervous

que

that (relative pronoun, conjunction)

Questions & Answers about La candidata que está nerviosa necesita muchos votos.

Wait, doesn't que mean 'that' or 'what'? Why does it translate to 'who' here?

In Spanish, que is a very flexible relative pronoun. While it often means 'that' or 'which' for things, it is also the standard word to use for 'who' when you are giving essential information about a person (like which candidate we are talking about). So, la candidata que... perfectly translates to 'the candidate who...'.

Could I use quien instead of que here?

You can, but in everyday spoken Spanish, que is much more common than quien when the descriptive clause directly follows the person without commas. For this type of basic, essential description, que is your go-to word for both people and things!

Why do we use está instead of es for 'is nervous'?

We use está (from estar) because being nervous is a temporary feeling or emotional state in this moment. If we said es nerviosa (using ser), it would change the meaning to say that she is an inherently anxious or nervous person all the time as part of her personality.

Why is it muchos votos instead of mucho votos?

The word for 'a lot' or 'many' changes its ending to match the gender and number of the noun it describes. Since votos (votes) is a masculine plural noun, the adjective must also be masculine and plural, becoming muchos.