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Questions & Answers about La familia es grande.
Why is “familia” used with “es” and not “son”?
In Spanish, la familia is considered a singular collective noun. Even though it refers to multiple people, grammatically it is treated as one unit, so the verb is es in the third-person singular.
Is “familia” masculine or feminine?
“Familia” is a feminine noun, so we use the article la. You can tell by the ending -a (one of the common feminine endings) and by convention.
Why is “grande” used instead of “gran”?
Grande can become gran when placed before a singular noun to mean great rather than big. However, es grande here indicates that the family is large in size. If you were trying to say "It is a great family,” you could say Es una gran familia.
Could I say “La familia está grande” using “estar”?
Using está would change the nuance of the sentence, usually implying a more temporary or changeable state. If you say La familia está grande, it might imply “The family has grown” recently. But normally, when describing something’s inherent characteristic (the family being large by nature), es is preferred.