# FR: beaucoup (de X) + accord du verbe : singulier / pluriel



## univerio

Is "beaucoup de qqch", when used as a subject, conjugated as a singular or plural noun? For example, do I say

Beaucoup de gens *habite* ici.

or

Beaucoup de gens *habitent* ici.

Because in English, you say "lots of people *live* here" and not "lots of people *lives* here."

*Moderator note*: Multiple threads merged to create this one. See also:
FR: beaucoup d'entre nous + accord (1re/3e personne)
FR: la plupart + accord singulier / pluriel
FR: la majorité + accord singulier / pluriel


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## SerinusCanaria3075

_*Gens*_ is plural, so I assume it needs a plural form:

_Il y a beaucoup de *monde* [*singular*]._
_Beaucoup de *gens* habitent ici [*plural*]._


Right natives?


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## Homosum

Hello !
It is quite easy : if the noun is countable > plural
if uncountable > singular.

Ex : 
 > Beaucoup de farine *est* nécessaire pour faire du pain.
 > Beaucoup d'oeufs *sont* nécessaire*s *pour faire un gateau.

 > Beaucoup de monde habite ici.
_ > Beaucoup de gens habit*ent* ici._

__


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## nettothenetizen

Hi! "Beaucoup de" is followed by "sont", right? not "est"?

E.g. Beaucoup de choses sont jolies. 

Thanks!


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## sarah82

Yes you're right it is plural "beaucoup de choses sont jolies"/"beaucoup de gens sont venus"...


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## zelda17

Cela dépend du mot que tu mets derrière:
"beaucoup d'étudiants sont satisfaits" --> 'étudiants' est un nom dénombrable, au pluriel, donc le verbe est au pluriel.

Mais:

"beaucoup de sucre a été renversé" --> 'sucre' est indénombrable, donc verbe au singulier.

Voilà! =)


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## Fred_C

Oui, ou si vous préférez :
"Beaucoup de" peut vouloir dire "many", et dans ce cas, c'est pluriel, 
Mais cela peut aussi vouloir dire "much", et dans ce cas, c'est singulier.


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## nettothenetizen

Hi!

Is it "beaucoup d’autres *cherchaient* en France un lieu d’expression privilégié" or "beaucoup d’autres *cherchait* en France un lieu d’expression privilégié"? It should be *cherchaient*, right?

Thanks!


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## madolo

yes, cherchaient


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## Léa123

Yes, since the subject, beaucoup d'autre*s*, is plural


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## cougargirl07

Bonjour!
My students and I were discussing negative expressions. My original statement was
Beaucoup de choses se sont passées au château de Gorre.

The students were to make it negative using rien ne...

My question, and theirs, was whether my original sentence was correct in being plural? Or would the singular be correct as
Beaucoup de choses s'est passé....

Merci beaucoup!


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## snarkhunter

This is definitely a case of _plural_, as implied by "beaucoup".
Therefore, "Beaucoup de choses se sont passées au château de Gorre." is absolutely correct. The actual subject of the sentence is "choses", not "beaucoup" (which only confirms the number).

And so is the opposite, "Rien ne s'est passé", which must be in the singular : this is still correct.

Some examples :
"Beaucoup sont venus."
"Peu sont venus."
"Personne n'est venu."


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## cougargirl07

Fantastique!
I have spent so long teaching at the high school lower-level that sometimes I know that it looks right but I no longer remember how it's right!
Merci!


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## caveatipse

beaucoup de + nom s'exige un verbe au singulier ou pluriel? Merci

Beaucoup de bruit manifestait, ou Beaucoup de bruit manifestaient?


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## arundhati

S'il s'agit de "beaucoup de bruits" (de nombreux bruits) => manifestaient
S'il s'agit de "beaucoup de bruit" (un bruit très fort) => manifestait (c'est "un" bruit).


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## GerardM

Hi caveatipse,

In English, there are many uncountable words (eg no plural for water).

In French, we have far less but we've some of them.
Some of our words (depending of the context) can be countable or uncountable. That's the case for _bruit._ 

So as arundhati wrote it, depending on the context, we have a singular or a plural.

~~ edit
Here English is similar to French.
You can say that there is much noise (singular) or that you can hear/there are many different noises (plural).


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## Jeanne75

Hello,

I am just trying to "slice" the various strata in that question because it's puzzling me.

[…]

But here it is "beaucoup de". For me "beaucoup" needs plural. Beaucoup de gens vivent. Beaucoup vivent etc...

Now let's come to "beaucoup d'entre nous". Actually I would say "vivent", whatever comes after "beaucoup" - but maybe it is just because I am old-fashioned and continue to say "la plupart vit"!!

Cheers


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## Maître Capello

Hello,

This thread is only about the agreement after _beaucoup de_. Please do *not* discuss the agreement after _la plupart_ or _la majorité_ here. To discuss those expressions, please do so in the corresponding threads:
FR: la plupart + accord au singulier / pluriel
FR: la majorité + accord singulier / pluriel

Thank you for your understanding.

Maître Capello
Moderator


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## Jeanne75

Hello Maître Capello,

You are always very helpful and I saw that you removed part of my previous post.

Sorry to insist - you will correct me anyway if this does not make sense to you.

My question was - sorry If I haven't been more explicit (and sorry for raising again this "off-topic" question but this is really puzzling me)

I know that there have been changes in the rules for the agreement of the verb for "la plupart de / la majorité de" (agreement with the compelement of the noun now allowed, from singular to plural) - off-topic, sorry again

Have, to your knowledge, similar changes in the rules been agreed for "beaucoup de" (agreement with the compelement of "beaucoup de" now allowed, which would make the "vivons" acceptable) ?

Thanks again - and renewed apologies for insisting,

Cheers


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## Maître Capello

Because _beaucoup_ is originally an adverb and not a noun—as opposed to _*la* plupart_ and _*la* majorité_—, in the phrase _beaucoup de X_, it can only be considered a determiner, which doesn't call for an agreement—only the noun X does.

There is therefore absolutely no reason (and never was) to use a singular if the noun is plural. The agreement just follows the noun:

_beaucoup d'entre *nous* = beaucoup de *gens* parmi nous_ → pluriel
_beaucoup de *gens*_ → pluriel
_beaucoup d'*eau*_ → singulier_
beaucoup de *bruit*_ → singulier
_beaucoup de *bruits*_ → pluriel


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## Jeanne75

Many thanks for your precious help - as usual! ...


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## thalaivi

Bonsoir à tous,

J'ai essayé de faire une phrase avec beaucoup de et c'est 

"Beaucoup de verbes en ir ont la même terminaison." 

Mais Microsoft Word souligne le mot ont et le remplace par a. 

D'abord est-ce que ma phrase est correct? Sinon comment on peut dire "Lots of ir verbes have the same ending"

Désolé il n'y a pas vraiment le contexte ici. Je juste veux écrire cette règle de conjugaison

Merci
Vidya


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## Micia93

If you read the whole thread, you will find the answer!
anyway, you should say "ont" here (agreeing with "verbes") and not "a", "beaucoup" is just here to determinate a vague number, but the actual subject is "verbes"


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## thalaivi

Thank you micia93,

I did read the whole thread but got confused when word said it was an error.. 

Regards
Vidya


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## Matcauthon

Salut,

Mon amie m'a envoyé le texto suivant:



> Je n'ai pas pu aller car j'ai eu beaucoup des devoirs



Par instincte je veux la corriger à 'beaucoup de devoir', mais je suis pas certain. Entre cet fil de discussion-ci et ce que j'ai trouvé ici, je pense que j'ai tort et qu'elle a raison. Néanmoins, j'hésite. Y-a-t-il quelquechose que je manque?


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## jann

I'm afraid neither of you quite have it right. 

Your friend is correct to use _devoir*s* _plural.  The plural conveys the idea of homework in general, and certainly the only choice if you have more than one homework assignment.  But you are correct that it should be _beaucoup de__ without an -s on the end.   Put it together and you'll have the correct version:  _j'avais beaucoup *de devoirs*._


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## Matcauthon

jann said:


> I'm afraid neither of you quite have it right.
> 
> Your friend is correct to use _devoir*s* _plural.  The plural conveys the idea of homework in general, and certainly the only choice if you have more than one homework assignment.  But you are correct that it should be _beaucoup de__ without an -s on the end.   Put it together and you'll have the correct version:  _j'avais beaucoup *de devoirs*._



thanks!


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