Editing Grammatical number (section)

==Number agreement== <!-- [[Number agreement]] redirects here -->

===Verbs===
{{Main|Grammatical conjugation}}
In many languages, verbs are conjugated according to number. Using French as an example, one says {{lang|fr|je vois}} (''I see''), but {{lang|fr|nous voyons}} (''we see''). The verb {{lang|fr|voir}} (''to see'') changes from {{lang|fr|vois}} in the first person singular to {{lang|fr|voyons}} in the plural. In everyday English, this often happens in the third person (''she sees'', ''they see''), but not in other grammatical persons, except with the verb ''to be''.
<!-- The next paragraph makes no sense to me ([[User:Ruakh|Ruakh]]), and I don't see anything obviously relevant in the linked articles, so I'm commenting it out until someone can explain it. (I think the problem might just be a misuse of linguistics terms; it makes no sense for a verb to "refer" to a noun, but maybe here it's being used to mean that the noun is the subject of the verb?)
Verbs may agree with the number of nouns to which they refer, even when there is no other form of number agreement in a language. For more information on this special type of number agreement, see [[Grammatical person]], [[Verb]], and [[English verbs]].
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In English, and in Indo-European languages in general, the verb is singular or plural to match whether the subject of the sentence is singular or plural. Oppositely, in [[Xavante language|Xavante]], transitive verbs match the number of the object.<ref>{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |last=De Oliveira |first=Rosana Costa |year=2007 |title={{lang|pt|Morfologia e Sintaxe da Língua Xavante|cat=no}} |language=pt |url=https://livros01.livrosgratis.com.br/cp050936.pdf |page=75 |publisher=Federal University of Rio de Janeiro |access-date=2024-03-26 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240326004742/https://livros01.livrosgratis.com.br/cp050936.pdf |archive-date=2024-03-26 }}</ref> In [[Greenlandic language|West Greenlandic]], the verb is marked for the number of both the subject and the object.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kahn |first1=Lily |last2=Valijärvi |first2=Riitta-Liisa |year=2022 |title=West Greenlandic: An Essential Grammar |series=Routledge Essential Grammars |location=London |publisher=Routledge |pages=142–143, 147–148 |doi=10.4324/9781315160863 |isbn=978-1-315-16086-3 }}</ref>

===Adjectives and determiners===
[[Adjective]]s often agree with the number of the noun they modify. For example, in [[French language|French]], one says {{lang|fr|un grand arbre}} {{IPA|[œ̃ ɡʁɑ̃t aʁbʁ]}} "a tall tree", but {{lang|fr|deux grands arbres}} {{IPA|[dø ɡʁɑ̃ zaʁbʁ]}} "two tall trees". The singular adjective {{lang|fr|grand}} becomes {{lang|fr|grands}} in the plural, unlike English "tall", which remains unchanged.

[[determiner (linguistics)|Determiners]] may agree with number. In English, the [[demonstrative]]s "this", "that" change to "these", "those" in the plural, and the [[indefinite article]] "a", "an" is either omitted or changes to "some". In French and German, the [[definite article]]s have [[grammatical gender|gender distinctions]] in the singular but not the plural. In Italian, Spanish and Portuguese, both definite and indefinite articles are inflected for gender and number, e.g. Portuguese {{lang|pt|o, a}} "the" (singular, masc./fem.), {{lang|pt|os, as}} "the" (plural, masc./fem.); {{lang|pt|um, uma}} "a(n)" (singular, masc./fem.), {{lang|pt|uns, umas}} "some" (plural, masc./fem.), {{lang|pt|dois, duas}} "two" (plural, masc./fem.).

In the [[Finnish language|Finnish]] sentence {{lang|fi|Yö'''t''' o'''vat''' pime'''i'''tä}} "Nights are dark", each word referring to the plural noun {{lang|fi|yöt}} "nights" ("night" = {{lang|fi|yö}}) is pluralized (night-{{small|PL}} is-{{small|PL}} dark-{{small|PL}}-[[partitive]]).

===Exceptions===
{{See also|Synesis|Plurale tantum}}
Sometimes, grammatical number will not represent the actual quantity, a [[form-meaning mismatch]]. For example, in Ancient Greek [[Neuter gender|neuter]] plurals took a singular verb.<ref>[https://chs.harvard.edu/CHS/article/display/6417.learning-ancient-greek "Learn Ancient Greek: 11_Unit 2 Agreement Infinitives Questions"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180507182200/https://chs.harvard.edu/CHS/article/display/6417.learning-ancient-greek |date=2018-05-07 }}, video tutorial by Leonard Muellner and Belisi Gillespie at [[Center for Hellenic Studies]] at [[Harvard University]], published January 25, 2018; retrieved May 30, 2018</ref> The plural form of a pronoun may also be applied to a single individual as a sign of importance, respect or generality, as in the ''[[pluralis majestatis]]'', the [[T–V distinction]], and the [[generic you|generic "you"]], found in many languages, or, in English, when using the [[singular they|singular "they"]] for [[gender-neutrality]].

In [[Arabic grammar|Arabic]], the plural of a non-human noun (one that refers to an animal or to an [[animacy|inanimate]] entity regardless of whether the noun is grammatically masculine or feminine in the singular) is treated as feminine singular—this is called the inanimate plural. For example:

{{block indent |left=1.5 |text={{plainlist}}
* {{lang|ar|رجل جميل}} ({{lang|ar-Latn|rajul jamīl}}) 'beautiful/handsome man': {{lang|ar-Latn|rajul}} (man) is masculine singular, so it takes the masculine singular adjective {{lang|ar-Latn|jamīl}}.
* {{lang|ar|بيت جميل}} ({{lang|ar-Latn|bayt jamīl}}) 'beautiful house': {{lang|ar-Latn|bayt}} (house) is masculine singular, so it takes the masculine singular {{lang|ar-Latn|jamīl}}.
* {{lang|ar|كلب جميل}} ({{lang|ar-Latn|kalb jamīl}}) 'beautiful dog': {{lang|ar-Latn|kalb}} (dog) is masculine singular, so it takes the masculine singular {{lang|ar-Latn|jamīl}}.
* {{lang|ar|بنت جميلة}} ({{lang|ar-Latn|bint jamīlah}}) 'beautiful girl': {{lang|ar-Latn|bint}} is feminine singular, so it takes the feminine singular {{lang|ar-Latn|jamīlah}}.
* {{lang|ar|سيارة جميلة}} ({{lang|ar-Latn|sayyārah jamīlah}}) 'beautiful car': {{lang|ar-Latn|sayyārah}} is feminine singular, so it takes the feminine singular {{lang|ar-Latn|jamīlah}}.
* {{lang|ar|رجال جميلون}} ({{lang|ar-Latn|rijāl jamīlūn}}) 'beautiful/handsome men': {{lang|ar-Latn|rijāl}} (men) is masculine plural, so it takes the masculine plural {{lang|ar-Latn|jamīlūn}}.
* {{lang|ar|بنات جميلات}} ({{lang|ar-Latn|banāt jamīlāt}}) 'beautiful girls': {{lang|ar-Latn|banāt}} is feminine plural, so it takes the feminine plural {{lang|ar-Latn|jamīlāt}}.
{{endplainlist}}}}
but
{{block indent |left=1.5 |text={{plainlist}}
* {{lang|ar|بيوت جميلة}} ({{lang|ar-Latn|buyūt jamīlah}}) 'beautiful houses': {{lang|ar-Latn|buyūt}} (houses) is non-human plural, and so takes the inanimate plural (feminine singular) {{lang|ar-Latn|jamīlah}}.
* {{lang|ar|سيارات جميلة}} ({{lang|ar-Latn|sayyārāt jamīlah}}) 'beautiful cars': {{lang|ar-Latn|sayyārāt}} is non-human plural, and so takes the inanimate plural {{lang|ar-Latn|jamīlah}}.
* {{lang|ar|كلاب جميلة}} ({{lang|ar-Latn|kilāb jamīlah}}) 'beautiful dogs': {{lang|ar-Latn|kilāb}} is non-human plural, and so takes the inanimate plural {{lang|ar-Latn|jamīlah}}.
{{endplainlist}}}}

===Collective nouns===
{{Main |Collective noun}}
A collective noun is a word that designates a group of objects or beings regarded as a whole, such as "flock", "team", or "corporation". Although many languages treat collective nouns as singular, in others they may be interpreted as plural. In [[British English]], phrases such as ''the committee are meeting'' are common (the so-called agreement ''in sensu'' "in meaning"; with the meaning of a noun, rather than with its form, see [[synesis|constructio ad sensum]]). The use of this type of construction varies with dialect and level of formality.

In some cases, the number marking on a verb with a collective subject may express the degree of collectivity of action:
* ''The committee are discussing the matter'' (the individual members are discussing the matter), but ''the committee has decided on the matter'' (the committee has acted as an indivisible body).
* ''The crowd is tearing down the fences'' (a crowd is doing something as a unit), but ''the crowd are cheering wildly'' (many individual members of the crowd are doing the same thing independently of each other).