3rd person/pl. or sing?
In the following sentence should the verb be singular or plural? " la familia de juan trabajaba..." my first instinct is to make the verb "trabajaban" because the word family implies "they" but ive seen elsewhere that to use "trabajaba" is correct... is it "trabajaba" because the subject is "la familia" and not "las familias" and if it were "las familias" then i would use "trabajaban" yes?
3 Answers
Singular.
Just like in English, a "family" consists of more than one person, but is seen as a whole. Ex. My family is....(not "are"). If it was "Las familias", you would be correct to use the plural.
Present Tense - Tiempo Presente Él come pizza. (He eats pizza.)
Petrerit Tense - Tiempo Pretérito Ayar él comió pizza. (Yesterday he ate pizza.)
Imperfect Tense - Tiempo Imperfecto Él siempre comía pizza. (He always ate pizza. - He always used to eat pizza.)
Future Tense - Tiempo Futuro Mañana él comerá pizza. (Tomorow he will eat pizza.)
Present Subjunctie Tense - Tiempo Presente Subjuntivo Espero que él coma pizza. (I hope that he eats pizza.)
Present Perfect Subjunctive Tense - Tiempo Presente Perfecto Subjuntivo Yo dude que él haya comido pizza. (I doubt that he has eatn pizza.)
Imperfect Subjunctive Tense - Tiempo Imperfecto Subjuntivo Si él comiera pizza, estaría contento. (If he ate pizza, he would be happy.)
Pluscuamperfect Subjuntive Tense - Pluscuamperfecto Subjuntivo Si él hubiera comido pizza, habría estado contento. (IF he had eatenpizza, he would have been happy.)
Coditional Tense - Tiempo Condicional Si él comiera pizza, estaría contento. (If he ate piza, he would be happy.)
Coditional PerfectTense - Tiempo Condicional Perfecto Si él hubiera comido pizza, habría esado conteno. (If had eaten pizza, he would have been happy.)
even though the family can contain more than 2 persons but still it's one familly and so it is not plural
