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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:

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*L'equipaggio* (the crew) is masculine singular, so it takes masculine singular adjectives and verbs:

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### 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.

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Singular agreement for collective nouns (la gente, il gruppo)

adjective

adjective/adverb

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

preposition

pronoun

proper noun

sentence

verb

Subject pronouns and the verb to be (io sono)

Singular definite articles (il, la)

Singular demonstratives (questo, questa)

Basic verbal negation (non)

Yes/No questions

Coordinating conjunctions (e, ma, o)

Regular plurals and definite articles (-i, -e, i, le)

Plural verb to be (noi siamo, voi siete)

Plural demonstratives (questi, queste)

Nouns ending in -e

Special singular articles (lo, l')

The plural article (gli)

Special indefinite articles (uno, un')

Demonstrative adjectives (quello, quella)

Adjective endings (-o, -a, -i, -e)

Expressing quantity (molto, poco, tanto)

The verb to have (ho, hai, ha...)

There is / there are (c'è, ci sono)

The preposition of (di)

Singular possessives (il mio, la mia)

Numbers 1 to 10 (uno, due, tre...)

Numbers 11 to 20 (undici, dodici...)

Numbers 21 to 100 (trenta, quaranta...)

Idiomatic avere (avere fame, avere anni)

Plural possessive adjectives (i miei, le mie)

Possessives with family members (mio padre)

Formal address (dare del Lei)

Present tense of -are verbs (-o, -i, -a)

Question words (chi, cosa, dove)

Present tense of -ere verbs (-o, -i, -e)

Question words (quando, come, perché)

Question word agreement (quanto, quanta, quanti, quante)

Regular -ire verbs

Verbs with -isc- (capisco, capisci, capisce)

Pronouns after prepositions (me, te, lui)

The verb fare (faccio, fai, fa)

The verb andare (vado, vai, va)

The verb stare (sto, stai, sta)

The verb venire (vengo, vieni, viene)

The verb uscire (esco, esci, esce)

Location and destination (a, in)

Origin and movement (da)

Articulated prepositions with a (al, alla)

Articulated prepositions with in (nel, nella)

Articulated prepositions with di and da (del, dal)

Simple prepositions (con, per, su, tra)

Articulated prepositions with su (sul, sulla)

Months of the year

Telling time (sono le...)

Dates (il + number)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 10th (primo, secondo, terzo...)

The verb to want (volere)

The verb can (potere)

The verb must (dovere)

The verb to know (sapere)

Reflexive verbs (mi lavo, ti lavi)

Indirect object pronouns (gli, le, ci...)

Expressing preferences (mi piace)

Plural preferences (mi piacciono)

Comparatives (più... di, meno... di)

The passato prossimo with avere (ho parlato)

Irregular past participles (fatto, letto, preso)

The passato prossimo with essere (sono andato)

Reflexive verbs in the past (mi sono svegliato)

Time adverbs with the past tense (già, mai, ancora)

Third-person direct object pronouns (lo, la, li, le)

First and second-person direct object pronouns (mi, ti, ci, vi)

The four seasons

Prepositions of place (vicino a, davanti a)

Conversational words (beh, allora, davvero)

Indefinite adjectives for some (qualche, alcuni)

Indefinite adjectives for every and all (ogni, tutti)

Indefinite pronouns (qualcosa, qualcuno)

Noun suffixes (-ino, -one)

Adverbs of manner (-mente)

Comparisons of equality (così... come)

The relative superlative (il più)

The absolute superlative (-issimo)

Irregular comparatives (migliore, peggiore)

Present progressive (stare + -ando, -endo)

Imminent actions (stare per)

The locative pronoun (ci)

The partitive pronoun (ne)

Pronoun placement with modal verbs

Impersonal subjects (si)

Prepositions of time (da, per, tra, fra)

Past participle agreement with pronouns

Question	Answer
the crowd	la folla
The crowd was very angry yesterday.	Ieri la folla era arrabbiatissima.
the crew	l'equipaggio
The crew are probably late.	L'equipaggio sarà in ritardo.
the majority	la maggioranza
The majority wants to leave immediately.	La maggioranza vuole partire subito.
The majority decided to stay.	La maggioranza ha deciso di restare.
the minority	la minoranza
The minority that wants to study is very small.	La minoranza che vuole studiare è piccolissima.
the class	la classe
The whole class passed the exam.	Tutta la classe ha superato l'esame.
The class has decided something important.	La classe ha deciso qualcosa di importante.
The crew are ready for the flight.	L'equipaggio è pronto per il volo.
The crew are sleeping on the boat.	L'equipaggio dorme in barca.
the army	l'esercito
The army rescued the crew.	L'esercito ha salvato l'equipaggio.
The army approaches slowly.	L'esercito si avvicina lentamente.
the committee	la commissione
The new committee is very strict.	La nuova commissione è severissima.
The committee didn't decide anything new.	La commissione non ha deciso niente di nuovo.
the gang	la banda
A dangerous gang stole the money.	Una banda pericolosa ha rubato i soldi.
The gang escaped through the crowd.	La banda è scappata tra la folla.
the orchestra	l'orchestra
The Italian orchestra is very good.	L'orchestra italiana è bravissima.
The orchestra that plays tonight is famous.	L'orchestra che suona stasera è famosa.
the choir	il coro
The choir sings a sad song.	Il coro canta una canzone triste.
The choir wants to rest.	Il coro vuole riposare.
The minority is small, but it is very noisy.	La minoranza è piccola, ma è molto rumorosa.

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