Hi!

Yesterday we took a look at some verb agreement cases en español and today let´s check out some specific cases.

Collective nouns verb agreement

1. When the subject is a collective noun and is in the singular form, the verb usually agrees with it in number.

Mucha gente vino a la fiesta. [Many people came to the party.]
Una multitud agasajó al presidente. [A crowd welcomed the president.]

However, it´s common to see in texts written by older authors sentences like:

Acudieron al tribunal multitud de gente. [A crowd of people went to the court.]

2. When the collective noun is determined by a complement in the plural form which indicates the people or things included in it, the verb is commonly used in the plural.

Acudieron a la reunión solamente una docena de accionistas. [Only a dozen shareholders attended the meeting.]
Poquísima cantidad de personas comparecieron a la ceremonia religiosa. [Very few people attended the religious ceremony.]

In those sentences, however, the verb in the singular form would also be correct:

Acudió a la reunión solamente una docena de accionistas. [Only a dozen shareholders attended the meeting.]
Poquísima cantidad de personas compareció a la ceremonia religiosa. [Very few people attended the religious ceremony.]

3. With words like parte, mitad, tercio, resto and others, the verb usually comes in the plural form.

Parte de los hinchas se metieron en una pelea. [Part of the supporters got into a fight.]
Mitad de los niños contrajeron sarampión. [Half of the children caught measles.]

4. Oftentimes the verb ser (to be) agrees with the predicative and not the subject, even though the latter is also correct.

Mi sueldo es de 3.000 dólares mensuales. [My salary is 3,000 dollars every month.] – subject = mi sueldo
Mi sueldo son 3.000 dólares mensuales. [My salary is 3,000 dollars every month.] – predicative = 3.000 dólares

La mayoría de los candidatos es mujer. [Most of the candidates are women.] – subject = la mayoría
La mayoría de lso candidatos so mujeres. [Most of the candidates are women.] – predicative = mujeres

These are some of the most common verb agreement cases in Spanish. Pay close attention when you read texts so you will be able to recognize these patterns.

Do you want to learn Spanish with more free resources? Click here now!

Nos vemos prontito.