Mi familia "vivían" en Italia.

Question

I was going through a verb conjugation lesson and came across this phrase:

Mi familia vivía en Italia.

That's the conjugation for él/ella/usted. Wouldn't "my family" be considered "they", making this the correct conjugation:

Mi familia vivían en Italia.

I understand family is singular here, but I would also refer to my family as "they" instead of "he/she/you". Or is the vivían form only for plural, never singular?

Answer 1

Hello Brain,

Welcome to the SpanishDict forum

You asked:

I was going through a verb conjugation lesson and came across this phrase: Mi familia vivía en Italia. That's the conjugation for él/ella/usted. Wouldn't "my family" be considered "they", making this the correct conjugation: Mi familia vivían en Italia. I understand family is singular here, but I would also refer to my family as "they" instead of "he/she/you". Or is the vivían form only for plural, never singular?

The word familia like gente is always (written) in the singular form and so the sentence is correct as: Mi familia vivía en Italia.

Yes, I know that in Engish we refer to the family as they in the plural, but Spanish is a different language with its own grammar rules. and they do not refer to the family as they but more like it (3rd person singular) We cannot expect other peoples' languages to conform to our rules or expectations!

If you wanted to speak about the members of your family and use the plural form of vivir you could specify the members of your family and say: Mis padres y mis hermanos y hermanas vivían en Italia, that would be correct

I hope this helps

Answer 2

Wait, are you telling me that in English you say "My family live" instead of "My family lives"?

"My family lives" in US English, but in UK English you might hear "My family live." - jtaniel, Apr 9, 2016

Yes, you could hear either live/or lives for the word family! I would say: My parents live in Italy, my brother/sister lives in Italy My family live/s in Italy. British English :) - FELIZ77, Apr 9, 2016

Cool. I'll note that down. - 0bito, Apr 10, 2016

Answer 3

in Spanish the family is a set. an entity. a group. So you must use the singular.

Julieta pertenecía a la familia Capuleto.

La familia de Romeo eran los Montesco.

Las dos failiaS estaban enfrentadas y su amor era imposible.

Y los muy tontos van y se suicidan pudiendo haberse fugado a Cancun

Juliet belonged to the Capuleto family.

Romeo's family were the Montesco.

Two familyes were facing each other and their love was impossible.

And the very dumb go and commit suicide beeing possible to fled to Cancun

Answer 4

I found the answer searching for "conjugating la familia". It turns out family, being singular, is considered "it" for grammatical purposes.

Yes; once the noun is singular, I believe you must also use the singular form of the verb. - KerleneT, Apr 9, 2016