Singular or plural?

In section ‘Adjectives’ lesson 2 it says “A roupa e os sapatos sao feios” The clothes and the shoes are ugly.
Why not “As roupas” for the plural
Thanks. David

@davidgrossart281, you can also use as roupas, but it is more idiomatic for us to use the singular roupa anyway to refer to all the pieces of clothing as a whole, since it works as a collective noun.

:+1::+1::+1: Thanks Joseph

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In a similar way, in one of the Shorties it said “Aos fins de semana gosto de organizar jantares para os meus amigos e familia.” Why “fins” and not “fin de semana”? Would “fin de semana” refer to this upcoming weekend, whereas “fins de semana” refers to weekends as a whole? If so, why would it not say “fins des semanas”?

Olá, @diane. Both the singular fim de semana and the plural fins de semana can be used here - the plural makes it extra clear that you’re referring to all weekends in general, but this is already understood in context anyway.

“Fim de semana”, despite not being linked by hyphens, is still a specific phrase with two nouns connected by a preposition. In these cases, by default, we only pluralize the first noun. Additionally, prepositions are always invariable. So, “fins de semana” is the only acceptable plural form :slight_smile:

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