# EN/FR: the United States / les États-Unis + verb agreement



## Jibbi

Hellloooooo!

Just a quick grammar question, only one response needed as it's very straightforward.

Is it:

_Les Etats-Unis était un grand gagnant de la guerre._

or

_Les Etats-Unis étai*ent *un grand gagnant de la guerre._

Thank yooou


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## esfera

étaient because it's plural


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## Jibbi

Thank you  Much apppreciated. 

I was wondering because it's one country but plural. Thanks for your help.


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## Nil-the-Frogg

Same in English: the United States *are*...


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## floise

Hi,

I would say 'the U.S. is....'

The U.S. is seen as a single entity rather than the numerous states that make it up. It therefore would need a third person singular verb.

Floise


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## Nil-the-Frogg

My bad then...


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## Andrew Levine

Yes, in English we use the singular "The United States is..." and in French the plural "Les États-Unis sont..."


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## Ciel Noir

Bonjour!

I'm wondering how to conjugate a verb if it comes after the plural country "les États-Unis". I want to say "the United States produces a lot of GM products", although it wouldn't sound that odd to say "the United States produce..."

So would it be "les États-Unis produit" or "les États-Unis produisent"?


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## travellr

In the US, we say *produces*. Unlike much of the world, we don't think of our country in the plural. 

(Of course, we nearly always say "America produces" or "the US(A) produces"; it's rare to hear simply "the United States" in the United States.)

But we might say "the fifty states produce"; in that case we're more likely thinking of each state as an individual entity.


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## Ciel Noir

Oh okay, but "the US produce" doesn't sound _too_ odd, does it?

How about the French question?


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## travellr

"The US produce" sounds _very_ odd; for the longer version, "the United States produce(s)", I probably wonder myself for a minute then use a different name for the country.

I'm fairly sure this is simpler in French: les États-Unis is plural and I'd use _produisent_.


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## TheUnitedStatesOfEurope

Hello everyone!

Here is the sentence I have to translate: " Les Etats-Unis, via cette désastreuse et incommensurable crise, ont précipité tout l'Occident dans une décadence inexorable, qui s'avère d'autant plus être cyclique historiquement parlant !" 

I know this is a very tricky and heavy sentence. My somebody could provide me some help, advices, suggestions, especially for the structures: "Les Etats-Unis (...) ont précipité" ; [...]
 
Here is my attempt: 

"The United States […] has precipitated the whole Western world into […]". 

Thank you very much in advance.


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## XPditif

Hey U.S.E.
The U.S.A. have pushed the whole ww into an irreversible decline (in B.E.), 
which besides turns out to be... (also appears to be)


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## wildan1

XPditif said:


> The U.S.A. haVE pushed the whole ww into an irreversible decline,


 
This is a logical suggestion grammatically, but not the usage in AE

*The United States has...* (we are united, so I guess we think we are singular!)


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## xaipete

Another case where British English uses a plural verb with a collective noun, but American English uses the singular.  Yes, in AE the US is singular, all fifty of them.


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