Subject agreement: general rule
As a general rule, the verb agrees with its subject. It can be identified by asking the question "Who is who?" or "What is who?".
Where there are several subjects, it is considered to be a plural. For gender, sorry ladies, but the masculine prevails. It only takes one masculine subject in the middle of 10 feminine subjects for the masculine to prevail.
- le cheval est blanc.
- le cheval et le mur sont blancs.
- les guitares sont neuves.
- la guitare et la sono sont neuves.
- la guitare et le violon sont neufs.
Difficult agreements with subject
When the subject consists of a singular part and a plural part, one has the choice of chord according to the meaning.
- Le groupe des bleus partira en premier.
- Un petit groupe d'enfants se faufilent au premier rang.
When the subject includes expressions of quantity such as: little, much, too much, most, enough, how much, the agreement is in the plural. But with a singular noun, the agreement is in the singular.
- La plupart des gens font leurs courses le samedi.
- Trop de pluie inonde les sols.
When the subject is a relative pronoun (qui, que, quoi, dont, où, auquel, duquel...), the verb to be agrees with its antecedent. If it is plural, the agreement is in the plural.
- Il aime les chats qui sont noirs.
- La palette de couleurs qui est utilisée est jolie.
C'est, ce sont, c'était, c'étaient: the verb to be matches the subject attribute. But with us and you the verb to be remains in the singular.
- Ce sont eux qui ont gagné.
- C'est nous qui avions raison.
Difficult agreements with several subjects
When the verbs are to different people, the "you" takes precedence over the "he". The "I" trumps the "you". To simplify "I" then "you" then "he".
- Paul reste.
- Paul et toi restez.
- Paul et moi restons.
- Paul, toi et moi restons.
With several subjects, the agreement is in the plural if the subjects add up. With "ou" (or), there is no addition but a selection between the two subjects. With "et, ni, comme, avec" (and, nor, like, with), there is addition. Pay attention to the punctuation to see the addition.
- Le blanc et le noir me vont.
- Ni le blanc ni le noir ne me vont.
- Le blanc ou le noir me va.
- Le blanc comme le noir me vont.
- Le blanc, avec le pull, me va.