B1 · The noun
When many count as one
Both English instincts push the wrong way here.
A word naming a group takes the singular in Italian: la famiglia è arrivata, la squadra gioca bene, la polizia è già qui.
English is unreliable here in a way that matters. British usage puts a plural verb after a collective — the team are playing well, the government have decided — and American usage puts a singular. Whichever you have, Italian takes the singular without exception, so half of English speakers are being pulled the wrong way by their own grammar.
And then there is la gente, which is the real trap. It means people and it is a singular word, and it pulls everything else into the singular with it: the verb, the adjective, the pronoun. La gente è stanca, never sono stanchi. English people is a plural noun with no singular, so there is nothing at all to lean on.
If you do need a plural, use a different word: le persone. Le persone sono stanche is right and says the same thing. A single person is una persona, never una gente. And after la maggior parte di and un gruppo di the verb usually follows the quantity word and stays singular: la maggior parte degli studenti è d'accordo.
Die Form
| the family has arrived | la famiglia è arrivata |
| the team plays well | la squadra gioca bene |
| people are tired | la gente è stanca |
| people are tired (with persone) | le persone sono stanche |
| the police are already here | la polizia è già qui |
| most of them agree | la maggior parte è d’accordo |
Die Regeln im Einzelnen
A collective noun takes the singular.
La polizia è arrivata in dieci minuti.The police arrived within ten minutes.
gente is singular even though it means many.
La gente aspetta da un’ora.People have been waiting for an hour.
For a plural, use le persone.
Le persone davanti a noi sono uscite.The people in front of us have gone out.
After la maggior parte the singular is usual.
La maggior parte degli studenti è d’accordo.Most of the students agree.
Woran man es erkennt
- la gente
- le persone
- la maggior parte
- la squadra
- la polizia
Beispielsätze
La gente del paese si conosce tutta.Everybody in the village knows everybody.
C’era troppa gente al mercato.There were too many people at the market.
La maggior parte dei negozi chiude alle sette.Most of the shops close at seven.
Tutta la classe ha superato l’esame.The whole class passed the exam.
Die typisch deutsche Falle
Aufgepasst
The mistake is not only in the verb. The adjective follows the singular too, and it is feminine, because gente is feminine: la gente è contenta. Contenti is the English plural forcing its way through — and it is doubly wrong, since it gets both the number and the gender from a word that has neither.
gente is one, persone are many.
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