Ma famille habite en France

DYLAN A.A1Kwiziq community member

Ma famille habite en France

Ma famille habite en France = my family lives in France...

Why is it not Ma famille habitent or habitons en France? Isn't family refering to "they" or "us" rather than "he" or "she" for conjugation? For example: Mes parents vivent en France. That makes sense to me because parents are like "they" so it gets the ent ending. Why is it not the same for famille? Merci!

Merci!

This question relates to:French lesson "to live"
Asked 4 years ago
CécileNative French expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer

Hi Dylan,

In grammatical terms, ma famille is singular so the verb form will be third person singular,

vive

But if you said,

Ma famille et moi habitons en France, 

then the 'et moi' makes it first person plural, nous .

Hope this is helpful!

Jim J.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Famille is a feminine singular noun so needs an appropriate  possessive adjective to describe it.

Therefore "ma". If it were a masculine noun it would require "mon".

DYLAN A.A1Kwiziq community member

thanks!

Ma famille habite en France

Ma famille habite en France = my family lives in France...

Why is it not Ma famille habitent or habitons en France? Isn't family refering to "they" or "us" rather than "he" or "she" for conjugation? For example: Mes parents vivent en France. That makes sense to me because parents are like "they" so it gets the ent ending. Why is it not the same for famille? Merci!

Merci!

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