Language/French/Grammar/Collective-nouns
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Collective nouns in French
Collective nouns refer to collections of people or things.
=Typical collective nouns
When a collective noun is the subject of a clause, the verb is usually singular.
This contrasts with English, where the verb can be either singular or plural:
- Le gouvernement a (NOT *ont) décidé d'interdire la publicité pour les cigarettes
The government has/have decided to ban cigarette advertizing
- L'équipe s'entraîne (NOT *s'entraînent) le jeudi soir
The team trains/train on Thursday evenings