"My siblings are eating dinner."

Translation: Moje rodzeństwo je kolację.

[flootzavut]

So is "siblings" treated like a neuter singular noun?

[Viersch]

Yes! :D

[flootzavut]

Ahhh cool! Dziękuję!

[Francois552022]

Not ahhh cool... more like why? But why?????

[ziggy69]

So why wouldn't I use jedzą in this case. My siblings are eating (jedzą)

[flootzavut]

Because in Polish, "siblings" works like a mass noun, it's singular and neuter.

[LeeJurga]

How many native speakers would get this wrong? And would anyone care if a native pole treated "rodzeństwo" as a plural?

[Jellei]

Native speakers can make many mistakes, but I really can't imagine this one. "rodzeństwo" ends with -o, it is obvious (to us) that it is neuter singular.

[Hereandthere715]

Could you explain this (or link to an explanation) a little more in depth? I realize that the word used is singular. As a non-native speaker, I am not yet familiar with how to know when neuter words should be kept singular even when referring to multiple people/objects. For example, I don't think you would say "Moje dziecko je śniadanie," when you actually mean that your five children are sitting together eating breakfast. (Or maybe you would say that?) So, that is why we are confused about this one. :-) For English-speakers, a sibling may be eating breakfast or many siblings may be eating breakfast. Is there a way to know when this distinction is not necessary beyond the fact that the dictionary form of the word is neuter singular? I hope my question makes sense. :-/

[Aran.Nelske]

Dziecko is singular. Dzieci is plural.
"Moje dziecko je śniadanie."
"Moje dzieci jedzą śniadanie."
The "e" ending for "mój" is for neuter singular, but also for plurals

[Hot-Doggy]

What about "Państwo" (Mr. & Mrs)? It ends in "o" and takes the third person plural — Państwo są NOT Państwo jest!

I think it would be easy to make a mistake:

"Rodzeństwo je kolację" v "Państwo jedzą kolację"

[alik1989]

"Państwo je kolację" is actually grammatically correct. It just means "The state is eating dinner".

I think that possibility prevents natives from ever making such a mistake.

Also, państwo in your example is a pronoun, which is a different word type than a noun, so different rules are likely to apply.

[Hot-Doggy]

Thanks for your very clear explanation. I've always assumed that "państwo" (ladies and gentlemen) was a collective noun — it didn't even occur to me that it could be a pronoun. There you go! I've learned something new today! Dzięki, pa!

[Philipo.]

Is 'rodzenstwo' singular neutral' hence use of word 'moje' (excuse mis-use of accents)?

[Jellei]

Yes it is.

[Popo-lsku]

"My siblings are eating dinner." <--- If siblings is singular, there should be an "is" instead of "are". But we have the "are"... So it has to be plural!? Nothing else makes sence to me.
In my opinion we have to translate what is given. And this is plural... ---> "jedzą"

[Jellei]

"rodzeństwo", although it's a singular noun, almost always refers to more than one person, i.e. "siblings".

It could potentially mean just one "sibling", but that seems rare, it's a lot easier to say "brat" or "siostra" then. So it's most common when you have siblings of both genders.

[RobertWill474954]

If siblings is treated as a neuter singular noun then i don't know why parents are not (previous question)

[akikotsukamoto]

so strange ! "neuter singular" sibliings

[NieNieNieNie]

Isn't it strange that Odmiana.net ( http://odmiana.net/odmiana-przez-przypadki-rzeczownika-rodze%C5%84stwo ) considers the declinations as "liczba mnoga"? I mean it takes singular verbs and even the endings are singular (-em and not -ami in Narzednik, etc.).