"The furniture is big."
Translation:Os móveis são grandes.
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If the sentence is in the singular, the translation should maintain agreement and remain in the singular. The furniture is large. (is / are; are / are)
The English word "furniture" is singular (requires singular agreement), but can refer to "a" collection of things.
Portuguese has a word that refers to a single piece of furniture and can be made plural to refer to multiple pieces of furniture. Strange but.... Is "a mobilia" a collection of pieces of furniture? What is "as mobilias"?
There are some words in English that are the same in both the singular and the plural form. For example furniture, knowledge and information. In English these words are treated as collectves and have a singular agreement. Portuguese has a singular form and a plural form for these words so the verb has to agree. Some examples Furniture is - movél é, móveis são Information is - informação é, informações são Knowledge is - conhecimento é, conhecimentos são.