To begin this lesson, let's take a look at a caption in a Yabla video that recently baffled one our subscribers:

Obviamente, la comunicación es la esencia de este tipo de trabajos.

Obviously, communication is the essence of this type of job.

Caption 40, Negocios - La solicitud de empleo

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BANNER PLACEHOLDER

Spanish sentences such as this one involving "tipo de" ["type" or "types of"] tend to confuse English speakers. After all, the literal translation of this sentence would read, "Obviously, communication is the essence of this type of jobs," which doesn’t work in English since “this” is singular and “jobs” is plural. In the vast majority of similar constructions in English involving countable nouns (nouns like "leaf/leaves," "cookie/cookies," etc. that can be physically counted), there must be singular/singular or plural/plural agreement, leaving one with the choice of either "this type of job" or "these types of jobs." 

However, this is not the case in Spanish since singular with plural is the most common construction, or occasionally singular with singular in the case of a single noun. Let’s look at some examples of each of these cases:

Singular with Plural with Countable Nouns: 

Si a todo esto añadimos otro tipo de problemas medio ambientales.

If to all this we add another kind of environmental problem.

Caption 16, 3R - Campaña de reciclaje

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Yo sí tengo la esperanza que se reduzc'... se reduzcan este tipo de eventos, ¿no?

I do have the hope that these types of occurrences will be red'... will be reduced, right?

Caption 57, Amigos D.F. - El secuestrar

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Singular with Singular (with a Single Countable Noun): 

¿Qué tipo de habitación desea?

What kind of room would you like?

Caption 10, Confidencial: El rey de la estafa - Capítulo 1

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Note that in the case above, habitación is considered a single noun since the gentleman being addressed is only looking for one room; hence the singular with singular construction.

Uncountable Nouns: 

In both Spanish and English, uncountable nouns (nouns like "water," "coffee," "love," etc. that cannot be counted) go in singular with tipo de (or "type(s)" or "kind(s)") of as follows: 

Y digamos que conforme se va fabricando ese tipo de líquido,

And let's say that just as that type of liquid is being produced,

Caption 92, Animales en familia - La operación de Yaki

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En ellos, recibió todo tipo de apoyo de sus simpatizantes.

In them, he got all kinds of support from his followers.

Caption 35, Andrés Manuel López Obrador - Publicidad de Obrador

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To add further confusion for English speakers (sorry!), in most such cases with "partitive" (referring to part of a whole) constructions like "tipo de," the verb can be conjugated in either singular or plural! Let's take a look at a couple of examples:

En cuanto al tipo de... trabajos que me gusta ver.

In terms of the types of... projects that I like to see.

Caption 22, Álvaro - Arquitecto Español en Londres

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Note that the verb gustar is conjugated in first person in accordance with the singular noun el tipo. However, without changing the translation, it would be perfectly acceptable to instead conjugate gustar in accordance with the plural trabajos:

En cuanto al tipo de... trabajos que me gustan ver.

In terms of the types of... projects that I like to see.

Let's look at one more example: 

Además, en la conjugación de los verbos,

Also, in the conjugation of verbs,

este tipo de sufijos nos indican.

these types of suffixes tell us.

Captions 35-36, Carlos explica - Diminutivos y Aumentativos Cap 1: Los sufijos

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While indicar is conjugated in accordace with the plural noun sufijos, it could alternatively be conjugated in accordance with the singular noun tipo: 

Además, en la conjugación de los verbos,

Also, in the conjugation of verbs,

este tipo de sufijos nos indica.           

these types of suffixes tell us.

Finally, it is worth noting that, in the cases of particular Spanish linking verbs like ser (to be), estar (to be), or parecer (to seem), the verb is nearly always conjugated in plural when followed by a subject complement (most simply defined as an "attribute"), as follows: 

Este tipo de bicicletas están pensadas

This type of bicycle is planned

para desplazamientos cortos.

for short distances.

Captions 5-6, Raquel - Alquilar una bicicleta

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To conclude, although we have focused on tipo de for the purpose of this lesson, other "partitive constructions" like el resto de (the rest of), la mayor parte de (most of), la mayoría de (most of), etc. function the same way.

We hope you've enjoyed this lesson, and don't forget to leave us your comments and suggestions.