Lesson 2.1 - trabaja vs. trabajan

Question

Hola!

In Lesson 2.1, I noticed that Paralee used "trabaja" when the sentence involves two people. I don't understand why she used "trabaja" and not "trabajan". [Please see picture below]

Again, it's lesson 2.1 starting at around 11:58.

Estoy muy confundida

Thank you in advance.

Answer 1

Sun Smile, the question is correct as it can be in either singular or plural (as is or "quienes trabajan").

I agree you on the answer. Because the two people are grouped together, it should be plural.

However, it could be in singular using "El hombre de negocios trabaja con la recepcionista ......."

Great explanation. Gracias! - SonrisaDelSol, Jul 12, 2011

Answer 2

I seem to recall that one being mentioned before. The problem is that even though there is a thread around listing a bunch of the mistakes found in the lessons, it either proved to be too expensive or time consuming to do all of the corrections, because the same ones are mentioned over and over again.

Besides, if you read over this thread (Where are the errors in the videos?) it can be a better grammar lesson than any of the original series. We learn more from our mistakes than anything else should be the motto for this site.

Buena respuesta. Gracias, qfreed! - SonrisaDelSol, Jul 12, 2011

Answer 3

Well l think you're right Sonrisa, good observation

Muchas gracias, Lovely :-) - SonrisaDelSol, Jul 12, 2011

Answer 4

Despite the concerns regarding this being an error, if I were reading a children's book and saw a picture of an office building with the question "who works in the office?" and on the next page saw the answer "the businessman and the receptionist work in the office", I would think nothing of it.

I think the first question is a general question, asked with no foreknowledge as to whether the answer is going to be one person, or more than one person. In that case it seems appropriate to ask in the singular.

If you know the time is somewhere between 3 and 4 in the afternoon, do you ask "¿qué hora es?" or "¿qué horas son?"

Is that a rhetorical question? - 0074b507, Jul 12, 2011

Yes, my point is that asking who works in the office (singular) can be perfectly appropriate, even if you know that the answer may be more than one person (plural) - Stadt, Jul 12, 2011

Answer 5

Does she say trabja or trabajan? I think Trabaja here is just a typo.

Oh, nice point! I'll go back and listen closely. - SonrisaDelSol, Jul 12, 2011

To me, it sounds like Paralee is saying "trabaja" ... no "n". - SonrisaDelSol, Jul 12, 2011

Paralee is a human, humans make mistakes :) . You know it should be 'trabjan' so there's no problem. - SpanishPal, Jul 12, 2011

True. I just wanted to make sure that I hadn't missed something about when to use third person singular and plural ;) Thanks for your help!! - SonrisaDelSol, Jul 12, 2011