How to conjugate verbs addressing a class?
How do you address the subject of "la clase"? How would you conjugate a verb? Ellos or el? For example: La clase no _______ buenas notas. (sacar) Is it sacan or saca?
Thank you in advance.
4 Answers
Collective nouns are treated different in Spanish. So we native Spanish speakers have trouble with the English and vice versa.
For example: people in English is conjugated as plural. "people are naive sometimes"
In Spanish is treated as singular: "La gente a veces es ingenua".
This is an easy to understand rule but not so easy to remember when speaking. After more than 15 years of speaking English I still make that mistake sometimes.
Since "la clase" is singular (even if it refers to many people, similar to "la familia") the verb has to be conjugated in the third person singular "saca".
In Spanish la clase is singular even if it's a group.
La clase es grande, tiene 25 alumnos.
The same happens with "familia" , "equipo", "grupo" etc.
La familia es pequeña. Somos solamente cuatro personas.
La gente tiene miedo. (gente is never plural except if it's gentes a seldom used word)
El equipo de fútbol juega mañana. (not juegan)
but
"Los Lakers" juegan mañana. (Lakers is plural with an S)
Another problem is "policía".
La policía está en alerta. ( the institution "policía" is always singular)
but
Las policías de tres países están buscando a los criminales. (Three institutions is plural)
La clase saca buenas notas is okey.
La clase sacan buenas notas is wrong.
Los alumnos (de la clase) sacan buenas notas (it's los alumnos plural)
What Shamelesspanish has written is true. When speaking about your class, you use the singular form. However when I speak to my classes,(as we are located in California---a significant part of Latin America, 
) I use the formal "ustedes" form when addressing them.
"Abran ustedes sus libros en la página 272." for example.
Or sometimes I will use the nosotros form ---usually beginning with "vamos a."
Ex. Vamos a conjugar tres verbos irregulares al pretérito."
