numberagreeing

Numberagreeing, or number agreement, is the linguistic phenomenon by which words in a sentence reflect the grammatical number of related elements, typically a noun. It involves a morphosyntactic relationship where dependent words such as verbs, adjectives, determiners, and pronouns co-vary in number with the head noun. Numbers commonly include singular and plural, but some languages also contrast dual, paucal, or other numerical categories.

Across languages, the scope and realization of number agreement vary. In English, number agreement appears mainly on verbs and pronouns: “The cat sleeps” versus “The cats sleep.” Determiners and adjectives generally do not inflect for number in English, though demonstratives and certain determiners can show limited agreement. In Spanish and many other Romance languages, determiners, nouns, adjectives, and verbs agree in number (and gender): “el niño alto” vs. “los niños altos.” Other languages, such as Arabic, Hebrew, and many Slavic languages, feature richer number systems that include dual or paucal forms, with nouns and adjectives adjusting to the head noun’s number and, in some cases, affecting verb agreement as well. Some nouns are pluralia tantum and require specific agreement patterns with adjectives or verbs.

Languages also exhibit variations such as zero agreement in certain contexts or agreement with the nearest noun rather than the head, and differences in how collectives are treated. Number agreement is a central topic in syntax, morphology, and linguistic typology and has practical relevance for computational parsing and natural language generation. See also subject-verb agreement and grammatical number.