{"id":57,"date":"2009-02-16T10:50:34","date_gmt":"2009-02-16T14:50:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=57"},"modified":"2009-02-16T10:50:34","modified_gmt":"2009-02-16T14:50:34","slug":"subject-verb-agreement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/subject-verb-agreement\/","title":{"rendered":"French Language – Subject\/Verb Agreement"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the things that makes the French language so trying at times is l’accord<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 Agreement in gender, number and person between subjects and verbs, adjectives, nouns, articles, pronouns, etc.\u00a0 Today, we’ll talk about the first kind.<\/p>\n

1. Mes filles<\/span> aiment<\/strong> leurs poup\u00e9es Disney<\/em>.\u00a0 (My daughters love their Disney dolls.)
\n2. C’est nous qui<\/span> sommes<\/strong> sur la photo<\/em>. (That’s us in the picture.)
\n3. Beaucoup de filles<\/span> portent<\/strong> des jupes.<\/em> (Many girls wear skirts.)<\/p>\n

The general rule is that the verb agrees with the subject of the sentence in number and person<\/strong>.\u00a0 In other words, singular subjects with singular verbs and plural subjects with plural verbs plus 1st person subjects (je, nous<\/em>) with 1st person verbs, 2nd person subjects (tu, vous<\/em>) with 2nd person verbs and 3rd person subjects (il, elle, on,\u00a0elles, ils) <\/em>with 3rd person verbs.\u00a0 We can see this in the first example above. \u00a0However, when the subject is the relative pronoun qui<\/em>, the verb agrees with the pronoun\u2019s antecedent.\u00a0 <\/span>The second example above shows us this where we use ‘sommes<\/em>‘ because the pronoun’s antecedent is the first person subject ‘nous<\/em>‘.\u00a0 <\/span>Another example of this would be C\u2019est moi<\/span> qui ai fait<\/strong> la cuisine.<\/em>\u00a0 <\/span>(It was me who did the cooking.)\u00a0 <\/span>In French, unlike English, the subject can come after the verb\u2026so be careful.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span>This is the case with:
\nC\u2019est dans cette ville qu\u2019habitaient<\/strong> mes parents <\/span>quand ils \u00e9taient plus jeunes.\u00a0 <\/span><\/em><\/span>(My parents lived in this town when they were young).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

If the verb has several singular subjects (compound subject linked with ‘et<\/em><\/strong>‘ (and), the verb is made plural<\/strong>.\u00a0 For example,
\nMon p\u00e8re et ma m\u00e8re <\/span><\/em>se sont mari\u00e9s<\/em><\/strong> en juin 1975.<\/em>\u00a0 (My father and my mother were married in June 1975.)<\/p>\n

Now, for some special situations.<\/p>\n

When the verb has subjects of different persons, you make the agreement like this:
\nToi et moi aimons la cuisine fran\u00e7aise.<\/em> (You and I love French cooking.)
\n2nd person + 1st person subjects take ‘nous<\/em>‘
\nMon mari et moi aimons le cin\u00e9ma. <\/em>(My husband and I love going to the movies.)
\n3rd person + 1st person subjects take \u2018nous’
\nV<\/span>otr<\/em>e mari et vous aimez les expositions d’art.<\/em>\u00a0 (You and your husband love art expositions.)
\n3rd person + 2nd person subjects take \u2018vous<\/em>‘\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

When using a compound subject linked with ‘ou<\/em><\/strong>‘<\/strong> (or), the verb is either singular or plural <\/strong>depending on the meaning of the sentence.\u00a0 For example:
\nMon mari ou ma fille<\/span> fera<\/strong> la cuisine ce soir.
\nSo, the verb is singular when meaning \u2018one or the other’.
\nLe passeport ou le permis de conduire<\/span> sont <\/span>des pi\u00e8ces d’identit\u00e9. <\/em>(Passports and driver’s licenses are identity documents.)
\nAnd here the verb is plural when meaning \u2018both of them’ (in English, we usually use ‘and’, not ‘or’ here.\u00a0 But, the French apparently like ‘or’ better.)<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

When using a compound subject linked with \u2018ni…ni’, the verb can either be singular or plural<\/strong>.
\nFor example:
\nNi son p\u00e8re ni sa m\u00e8re<\/span><\/em> n’est<\/strong> professeur. <\/em>(Neither his father nor his mother is a teacher.)
\nNi son p\u00e8re ni sa m\u00e8re<\/span><\/em> ne sont<\/strong> professeurs.<\/em> (Neither his father nor his mother are teachers.)<\/p>\n

When the subject is a collective noun like <\/strong>peuple, foule, groupe, ensemble, bande, orchestre, \u00e9quipe, majorit\u00e9, troupeau<\/em><\/strong>, <\/strong>etc., the verb is usually singular<\/strong> even though they have a plural reference.
\nMa famille<\/span><\/em> est<\/em><\/strong> d’origine irlandais. <\/em>(My family is of Irish origin.)
\nLe public<\/span><\/em> a hu\u00e9<\/strong> pendant dix minutes<\/em>. <\/em>(The audience booed for ten minutes.)<\/p>\n

But, be careful: when the collective noun is followed by a plural noun, the verb can be plural as the noun is considered to be similar to a \u2018quantity noun’ like douzaine, kilo<\/em>, etc.\u00a0 For example:
\nUne foule de touristes<\/span> visitaient<\/strong> Versailles<\/em>. (A crowd of tourists visited Versailles.)
\nLa majorit\u00e9 des am\u00e9ricains<\/span><\/em> pr\u00e9f\u00e8rent<\/strong> la bi\u00e8re au vin<\/em>.\u00a0 (The majority of Americans prefer beer to wine.)<\/p>\n

When the subject includes beaucoup de, peu de, trop de, assez de, combien de<\/em> or la plupart de, 10% de, 50% de<\/em>, etc. plus a plural noun, the verb is plural<\/strong>. This is the case of the third example at the beginning of this article.
\nBeaucoup de filles<\/span><\/em> portent<\/em><\/strong> des jupes.
\n46% des \u00e9lecteurs d\u00e9mocrates<\/span> ont vot\u00e9<\/strong> pour Hillary Clinton en 2008. <\/em>(46% of Democrat electors voted for Hillary Clinton in 2008.)<\/p>\n

But, be careful: if they are followed by singular nouns, then the verb is singular<\/strong>. \u00a0And <\/strong>beaucoup, la plupart, etc<\/strong><\/em>. when standing alone take plural verbs<\/strong>.\u00a0 For example:
\nLes \u00e9tudiants n’ont pas bien travaill\u00e9.\u00a0 La plupart<\/span> n’ont pas r\u00e9ussi.<\/strong> <\/em>(The students didn’t work hard.\u00a0 Most of them did not pass.)<\/p>\n

Finally, when the subject includes le seul qui, le premier qui, le dernier qui, etc<\/em>., the verb can agree with the subject of the main verb or it can agree with the le seul, le premier, le dernier, etc<\/em>.<\/strong> \u00a0For example\u00a0:
\nVous<\/span> \u00eates le seul qui puissiez<\/strong> m’aider.
\nVous \u00eates le seul qui<\/span> puisse<\/strong> m’aider.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

In short, just make sure your verb agrees!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the things that makes the French language so trying at times is l’accord.\u00a0 Agreement in gender, number and person between subjects and verbs, adjectives, nouns, articles, pronouns, etc.\u00a0 Today, we’ll talk about the first kind. 1. Mes filles aiment leurs poup\u00e9es Disney.\u00a0 (My daughters love their Disney dolls.) 2. C’est nous qui sommes…<\/p>\n

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