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¡Fue ese mentiroso el que rompió el mando!

¡Fue ese mentiroso el que rompió el mando!
It was that liar who broke the remote control!
From Lesson 352:Sentences for emphasis (es... quien)·Spanish (Spain)

Questions & Answers about ¡Fue ese mentiroso el que rompió el mando!

Why do we use el que here instead of just que?
This sentence uses a special structure for emphasis to say 'It was X who...'. In Spanish, we form this with ser + the emphasized part + el que (or la que, los que, etc.). You cannot just use a plain que here because el que acts like 'the one who'. Since mentiroso is masculine singular, we use el que.
Could I use quien instead of el que?
Yes! Because ese mentiroso is a person, you can absolutely say ¡Fue ese mentiroso quien rompió el mando!. Both are correct. El que is very common in spoken Spanish, while quien can sound just a tiny bit more formal, but both work perfectly here.
Why is the first verb fue (past) instead of es (present)?
In these emphatic sentences, the verb ser usually matches the tense of the main action. Because the breaking happened in the past (rompió, preterite), we use the preterite fue ('It was...'). You will also sometimes hear the present tense used (Es ese mentiroso el que...), but matching the past tense is very standard.
Is mando the standard word for 'remote control'?
In Spain, yes! It is short for el mando a distancia, but everyone just calls it el mando. If you are speaking with people from Latin America, you are more likely to hear el control or el control remoto.

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