When to put plural form?

Question

I wrote these sentences in a test, and the teacher added an 's' to the back of the 2nd sentence (in bold).

La camiseta y los zapatos son blanco.

and

Ella lleva unos pantalónes blancos.

My question is, in both cases I was talking about more than one thing, so why pluralise one of the blancos but not the other?

In general, when to put in plural and when not to?

Thank you so much in advance

Answer 1

I think your teacher needs to study Spanish.

The first sentence is wrong. "La camiseta y los zapatos son blancos" is correct. "Blancos" is the correct adjective because you're talking about two things (plural). "Blancos" instead of "Blancas" because of "zapatos". In a mixed set of feminine and masculine nouns, the masculine takes precedence.

The second example is correct except that "pantalónes" (plural) does not have an accent...it falls naturally on the "lon". If singular, it would be "pantalón". If that were so, then "blanco" would be correct.

Unless she wears several different garments, I would say that "Ella lleva pantalón blanco" (She is wearing white pants).

Was this correction made on a Monday morning?

So pantalones is not naturally plural in Spanish? There exists singular 'pants'? And I guess so, the test was taken on Thursday and the papers returned on the following Tuesday. Haha. - mathslover, Oct 26, 2011

Answer 2

Your teacher must of just missed the first error.

Answer 3

I agree with DonBigote:

La camiseta y los zapatos son blancos.

and

Ella lleva unos pantalones blancos.