Correlating masculine / feminine subjects

"¡sería el colmo que la mitad del grupo estuviera enfermo!" Hi again all. Thanks for putting up with all my posts! Every time I go through the course, I see something different I don't understand... I see here that "enfermo" is masculine, presumably tied to "grupo". Why isn't it "enferma" tied to "mitad"? "¡sería el colmo que la mitad del grupo estuviera enferma!"

I'll take a stab at your question. The subject of the sentence is "el grupo" not "la mitad". But, perhaps I am not translating the sentence correctly. I believe it says something like: It would be the last straw that half of the group would be sick. But, you have me wondering if the sentence was written describing the half of the group, what then? ¡Sería el colmo que las mujeres del grupo estuviera enfermo! ¡Ayudarnos maestros del español!

I will certainly wait for the masters to check in on this. From my Internet searches though, it seems that both are possible depending on what you are trying to say.

Indeed, here is a counter example: "La mayoría de los latinos ama Buenos Aires." as opposed to: "La mayoría de los latinos aman Buenos Aires."

Since our resident Jedi Language Master has not weighed in yet with the right answer, I will make my best guess. 1. I agree with Patrice's assessment. "Enfermo" is describing the condition of the "grupo," and so should be masculine. 2. I think that the first example is correct. The verb conjugation needs to agree with "la mayoría," not "latinos." The direct English translation makes it clear, at least in my muddled mind: The majority of latinos love Buenes Aires. vs. The majority of latinos loves Buenes Aires.

Hola amigos! Dan, you are right again. 1- The "grupo" (masculine) is sicck (enfermo). 2- Your example in english describes the sentence perfectly. By the way is Buenos Aires. saludos!

Thanks guys.

Sí, gracias amigos. Fue muy interesante.

"El español es una lengua viva: ¡vívelo!" I don't mean to beat a dead horse (where do we get these expressions, anyway?!), but this really shocks me given the juxtaposition of the words here. Shouldn't this be "¡vívela!"?

Please translate "sería el colmo que la mitad del grupo estuviera enfermo" in english

"That would be the last straw if half the group got sick!" [To note I am translating this "from my gut" - not from Google Translate!]

I read that if there is a question whether the subject is feminine or masculine, to choose the masculine. In fact when I was reading about the group from Spain who was singing "Eres tu", they were identified as 4 hermanos which I thought was 4 brothers but the lead singer is a girl. Off the topic. I had dinner last night with a brother who was a lot younger than me. I mentioned the song Eres Tu and he started singing it. He said it was very popular when he was in high school in the Philippines. Everybody in my big family now knows this song even the 3 and 8 year old granddaughters. Amazing isn't it. In fact the 8 year old said that she will sing it on the next family program.

Hola, Steven's translation sounds good to me. I might add that here is an example of the need for the subjunctive because of the conditional tense in the main clause. It's speculation, about something occurring, half of the group getting (got) sick, which may or not happen. Saludos, Ricardo