Did I conjugate wrong?

Question

In one of my kwizzes, I got this one wrong. The correct choice was están for this sentence: "Mi padre están en el hospital" I chose está.  Why is it wrong? Is it because está would be too informal when referring to parents? Or is this padre referring to a priest or something?

Accepted Answer

Hola Perry
Your intuition to choose "está" for the sentence "Mi padre está en el hospital" was actually correct. The verb "estar" should indeed be conjugated to "está" when referring to a singular subject like "mi padre" (my father). The form "están" is used for plural subjects, which doesn't apply in this case since you're talking about just one person.
The choice between "está" and "están" has nothing to do with formality or the specific nature of the subject being discussed. Instead, it's purely a matter of grammatical number.
Un saludo
Silvia

Answer

Hola PerryI looked into your test where you got that question and I think you may have misread the feedback. The result page shows that you chose/ wrote "están" (highlighted in red) and the correct answer is "está", showing in green. I hope this clarified it.SaludosInma

Answer

I am so glad I saw your feedback! I just got tested on this exact question again and got it wrong again when I wrote están thinking that was acceptable. Glad to know I am just misreading stuff. I KNEW I wasn't crazy. ¡Gracias!

Answer

I am so glad I saw your feedback! I just got tested on this exact question again and got it wrong again when I wrote están thinking that was acceptable. Glad to know I am just misreading stuff. I KNEW I wasn't crazy. ¡Gracias!