In English, collective nouns referring to groups of people—like "crew", "family", or "crowd"—are often treated as plural. You might say "The crew are late" or "The majority want to leave."
In Italian, however, human collective nouns require strict singular agreement. Because the noun itself is grammatically singular, all verbs and adjectives associated with it must also be singular.
Singular Verbs and Adjectives
When a collective noun is the subject of a sentence, always conjugate the verb in the third-person singular (the lui/lei form). Any adjectives modifying the group must also match the noun's grammatical gender and remain singular.
For example, la folla (the crowd) is feminine singular, so the adjective takes a feminine singular ending:
| The crowd was very angry yesterday. | Ieri la folla era arrabbiatissima. |
L'equipaggio (the crew) is masculine singular, so it takes masculine singular adjectives and verbs:
| The crew are probably late. | L'equipaggio sarà in ritardo. |
Focus on the Grammatical Subject
It is easy to get distracted by the fact that words like la maggioranza (the majority) or la classe (the class) contain many individuals. Just remember that grammatically, there is only one "majority" or one "class" acting as the subject.
| The majority wants to leave immediately. | La maggioranza vuole partire subito. |
| The whole class passed the exam. | Tutta la classe ha superato l'esame. |
| The choir sings a sad song. | Il coro canta una canzone triste. |
