# EN: family - singular / plural



## lonesomecowboy

Bonjour à tous,
J'ai un problème de traduction. Par quel pronom reprend-t-on "family" en anglais ?
Ex : Certaines personnes n'aiment pas leur famille ; ils la détestent même.
Some people don't like their family ; they even hate "it" / "them" ?

Merci pour votre aide.

*Note des modérateurs : *nous avons fusionné plusieurs discussions pour créer ce fil.


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## marget

I would never say "it", but I would easily say "them".


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## Irishsyl

Bonjour,

Par quel pronom personnel sujet doit-on remplacer le nom "family" ?

par exemple, dans la phrase : "his family is important", par quoi on peut remplacer "his family" ?
--> "*it* is important."
--> "*they* are important." ??   ou autre chose ?

thx !!!


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## msezda

*"it is important"* would be correct.


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## Frinsp

I'm sorry I don't believe the last post made any sense at all, but I would say they are important, or it is important, with more of a tendancy for saying the first.


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## Keith Bradford

Strictly speaking, _*family*_ is singular, so you replace it with "_*it*_".

On the other hand, English is a much more flexible language than French, and strict logic is often abandoned. For example, I bet 95% of English speakers would say:

_The family is an important concept in sociology. *It *is found in all societies..._
_The family was important to him when he was ill. *They* visited him in hospital and brought food..._

*Context is all.*


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## marget

Excellent examples, Keith Bradford.  I would say "it" after all in the context you've provided.


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## drassum

(Re)bonsoir,

Le nom "family" s'accorde, il me semble, au singulier. Pourtant, j'avoue hésiter à employer un pronom singulier ou pluriel : "my family is great, I love *it*/*them*".

Quelqu'un pourrait-il m'expliquer ce qu'il est préférable d'employer?

D'avance un grand merci pour vos réponses.


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## AFrenchGuy

Dans l'attente d'une réponse sans équivoque, je pense que tu devrais utiliser "them". En langue anglaise il y a souvent des termes singuliers qui se rapportent à plusieurs individus, et dans ce cas on utilise des verbes et pronoms au pluriel.

Par exemple, la page "Police" de Wikipedia version anglaise commence ainsi :
"The police *are* a constituted body of persons empowered by..."

Cependant, il serait bon d'avoir l'avis d'un natif, car je ne serais pas à l'aise pour dire "My family *are* great"...


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## moustic

Personally, I would say "my family *is* great", but there are lots of google hits for "my family *are* great".
In the following sentence, I would also say "I love *them*, *they* *are* really supportive".


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## Perdrix

I agree with moustic on both counts. Also, I don't think I've ever heard anyone say "My family *are* great".


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## Maharg

It is gramatically correct to say 'My family is great' because family is a singular noun, however, informally people often use 'are' for this type of noun because they are thinking of the plurality of the people involved, e.g. 'the government are greedy'.  This is not strictly correct.  

In English, you would say I love _them_, not _it_.


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## marianneBLANC

Bonjour,

Contexte  : description d'un château : "The Rossel family was present in Languedoc region."

Une personne de langue anglaise me dit qu'il est plus correct de mettre "were" dans ce contexte ?

En français ce serait acordé à "famille" donc was (enfin il me semble...)

Est-ce différent pour l'anglais considèrant que famille est un groupe de personnes donc pluriel ?

Merci pour vos éclaircissements.

marianne


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## Rachafouine

Bonjour,
Je laisse un ou une Anglophone confirmer cela, mais "were" me paraît correct. C'est ce qu'on appelle un nom non dénombrable, comme "the police".
On dit par exemple "the police are looking for..."


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## Transfer_02

Both "was" and "were" are OK in English, though I would add that nowadays the plural form is used more and more (eg The team were late for the match - Doesn't sound so nice to my ears but maybe I am just old fashioned).
In your case I'm not sure which I would choose, it would depend on the whole paragraph.  Is it a large, extended family with several generations spread out across the whole region or a nuclear family living inside the four walls of the château...


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## radiok

I've heard a rule that says that collective nouns take the plural in British English and the singular in US English. 

According to wikipedia (second paragraph under Metonymic merging of grammatical number), though, it's a little more complex, and British English can use singular or plural depending on the context.

In your example, I personally would tend towards the singular, unless your article goes into enough detail about separate family members that the single collective entity of the family is overshadowed by the individuals within it.


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## marianneBLANC

Many thanks. Then I will go for the plural form.


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## Omelette

That would be incorrect in American English .  In British English there is a tendency to use the singular - in this case 'was' - when the familly is regarded as a single unit (rather than a collection of individuals) which seems to be the case here.
So, either way, I'd go for 'was'.


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## swintok

For me the decision whether to use the singular or plural depends on how I'm conceptualising my family at the time: a single collective or a group of individuals. This can change even within a single conversation.

My family is great! = taken all together, I like my family regardless of certain individuals or their foibles.
They visited me every day when I was in hospital. = collectively a family cannot visit, but individual members of a family can.

Similarly:
My family is great! I love them!
This sounds perfectly natural to me, since taken as a whole I think my family is great and I love each member of it. 

My family is great! I love it!
This also sounds perfectly natural, but there is a subtle difference. Taken as a whole I think my family is great and I love the fact that I am part of this collective group.

The Rossel family was present in Languedoc region. = emphasis on the collective. The Languedoc was the home of a collective group called the Rossels.
The Rossel family were present in the Languedoc region. = emphasis on the individual. Several members of the Rossel family lived in the Languedoc region, perhaps all together, perhaps separately in various places or at various times, perhaps all the members or only some of the members.


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