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I have a question about "más/ el más, la más".

For example;

¿Cuál es el país donde la más carne se consume de Europa?

I know it is an incorrect phrase, the correct thing is ->

¿Cuál es el país donde más carne se consume de Europa?

However, I can not explain the reason why it is incorrect, grammatically. It is because "more" only supports the verb "consumir"? or the subject phrase "el consumir"?

Why isn't it necessary to put the article "the"?

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  • Would it help to think of the sentence as analogous to "Which is the country where more meat is consumed?" as opposed to "Which is the country where the most meat is consumed?" ? – jacobo Sep 18 '18 at 10:42
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    Alternatively you could say "¿Cuál es el país donde se consume la mayor cantidad de carne en Europa?" – DGaleano Sep 18 '18 at 14:19
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You don't need the because it is only needed when más is followed by an adjective:

El más grande, la más fuerte, los más rápidos, las más listas...

So in order to use the you would have to rephrase your sentence like this:

De los países de Europa, ¿cuál es el más carnívoro?

Now that más is followed by carnívoro (an adjective) you can use the. According to the current Spanish Grammar, those are simple (type I) superlatives. But in your example you use a complex (type II) superlative. In this case, the sentences use more elaborated constructions, and the quantifier can be an adjective, an adverb or a noun, as in your case (carne). The Spanish Grammar addresses the subject in paragraphs 45.13ñ et seq. It also shows the following example:

Vamos a la cocina, es el sitio de la casa que tiene más luz a estas horas.

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    I think more emphasis should be on the fact that the superlative form "el más X" can only be used with adjectives, which seems to be the grammatic rule OP is missing. – Brian H. Sep 18 '18 at 11:15
  • so, you think that this "más" es comparative in that sentence, right? – Ian Lee Sep 19 '18 at 3:12
  • ¿Cuál es el país donde más se consume carne europea? ¿Cuál es el alumno que más estudia historia? Marruecos es el país donde más se consume carne europea Esteban es el alumno que más estudia historia. – Ian Lee Sep 19 '18 at 4:39
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    those are the examples of superlativo. no veo la diferencia con la frase mía. – Ian Lee Sep 19 '18 at 4:40
  • @IanLee you're right, I've been reading the Spanish Grammar and those are indeed superlative sentences. I'll rephrase my answer. – Charlie♦ Sep 19 '18 at 7:10

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