Singular or plural in "ce qui" construction

Question

Ce qui m'énerve en ce moment, ___ les chiens de mes voisins.

Should c'est or ce sont go into the blank? On the one hand, les chiens is plural so the plural form should be used. On the other hand, it is just one (group of) things, so we should use the singular.

A very similar question was answered recently, the question is broader but the answer is the same. — Teleporting Goat, Dec 06 '16 at 11:09
@TeleportingGoat yes, I mentioned that other very similar question in my reply. I replied anyway to point the fact what is preceding the sentence affects the level of correctness of the singular. — jlliagre, Dec 06 '16 at 15:41

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 06 '16 at 05:49

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"Ce sont les chiens" is the one you have to use you not talk about the group of dogs you talk about the dogs

answered Dec 06 '16 at 05:49

DanyCode

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score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 06 '16 at 06:14

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The « être » verb agrees with the noun that follows:

Ce qui m'énerve, ce sont les chiens des voisins.

« C’est » can be used if you phrase the sentence as:

Ce qui m'énerve, c'est que les chiens des voisins aboient sans cesse.

answered Dec 06 '16 at 06:14

Con-gras-tue-les-chiens

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score 0 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:56

As the pronoun ce is singular (i.e. la chose qui m’énerve), the singular is accepted, and likely the most common in spoken French:

Ce qui m'énerve en ce moment, c'est les chiens de mes voisins.

but the plural is more stylish, especially in written French:

Ce qui m'énerve en ce moment, ce sont les chiens de mes voisins.

In the pronoun is in plural (ceux qui = those/the ones who annoy me…), ce sont is mandatory:

Ceux qui m'énervent en ce moment, ce sont les chiens de mes voisins.

See « C'est » ou « ce sont » devant le pluriel

Singular or plural in "ce qui" construction

3 Answers3