Plural subject with singular object - is it different in Spanish?

Question

I'm doing a course that sometimes gives example sentences with a plural subject but a singular object, for example: "Comen la fresa." A direct translation to English sounds odd because it has a plural subject with a singular object: "They eat the strawberry" (meaning there is one strawberry but more than one person eating it). Does the Spanish sentence have the same odd meaning? Or in Spanish could this plural subject with singular object construction be saying something like "They [each] eat the[ir own] strawberry"?

Saying , "eat the strawberry" implies a specific berry , it should be "eat A strawberry" . - ray76, Nov 5, 2015

So are you saying "la" here translates to "a" because it is a number of people eating a number of strawberries? Where does this leave "Comen *una* fresa"? - jellonz, Nov 5, 2015

I am only referring to the English sentence mate - "Comer una fresa" . How more than one person could eat one strawberry I have no idea , we have an abundance of food for all here. - ray76, Nov 5, 2015

"Se comen las fresas." Your English was wrong it should have been "strawberries"Now there is enough to go around mate , go for it ! - ray76, Nov 5, 2015

Or maybe you missed the word"cesta" ," Comen una cesta de la fresa." - ray76, Nov 5, 2015

Answer 1

It is different, at least in Mexico. Where in English we would say "Everybody opens their suitcases," in Mexico it is far more common to hear "Todos abren su maleta" with the same meaning -- each person has a suitcase, and all are to be opened.

Similarly, I've heard "quítense el sombrero" for "take off your hats" (Mexico too). I think if everyone is assumed to have something, you use the singular. - HackerKing, Nov 4, 2015

Interesting, gracias. Would this also apply with the definite article eg "Todos abren la maleta." And to Hacker, would this apply to all objects, or only clothing and body parts (for which Spanish often applies different rules for the definite article). - jellonz, Nov 4, 2015

Yes, "Todos abren la maleta" -- and maletas are neither clothing nor body parts. - jtaniel, Nov 4, 2015

Gracias jtaniel. - jellonz, Nov 4, 2015

That's the way it is in the textbooks as well. - Daniela2041, Nov 5, 2015