"It has to be them"

Question

Bit of context: In a documentary a guy finds two bears he raised the year before; at the beginning he doesn't recognize them but eventually he shouts, "It has to be them!"

To my Spanish ears the correct sentence would have been "They have to be them" and Google Translate kind of backs me but still find contradictory answers to this.

possible duplicate of Which is correct: "This is her" or "This is she"? — Edwin Ashworth, Jan 16 '15 at 16:06
It's idiomatic English to use it instead of they here. The it refers to the collection of bears (the pair). The sentence is confirming the equivalence of observed group of bears with the specific group of bears. But because the usage is idiomatic you can't fully justify it using core grammar rules. Different languages will use different approaches to say this. For example, in Polish, you'd say "to oni" where "to" means "it" and "oni" means "them". — Martin Krzywinski, Jan 17 '15 at 01:00
No, it does not refer to the collection of the bears: it doesn't refer at all. In this construction, it is a dummy subject, a bit like il in French il y a. — Colin Fine, Jan 17 '15 at 02:06

score 15 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 16 '15 at 15:51

15

If we see two things, we might refer to what we are looking on as a single scene (of two things) or as two things.

"The thing I am seeing has to be the two bears I raised." → "It has to be them."

"The two bears I am seeing have to be the two bears I raised." → "They have to be them."

Both are therefore fine.

There is also a very common placeholder use of it used "with reference to an abstract thing, or a matter expressed or implied in a statement, or occupying the attention of the speaker."

And here it can be used with anything that we later give more information about, whether that thing "contains" a plurality or not.

answered Jan 16 '15 at 15:51

Jon Hanna

53,363

Such a comprehensive answer I can't be bothered looking for duplicates. – Edwin Ashworth Jan 16 '15 at 16:07
Cf: It has to be them/him/her/me/those bastards/the government/Obama/demons/... that caused it. – John Lawler Jan 16 '15 at 17:01
Typical exchange when hearing a knock on the door, in English: "Who is it?" "It's me." In Spanish: "¿Quién es?" "Soy yo." (Literally: "Who is it?" "I am me.") – John Kugelman Jan 16 '15 at 21:57
It can be confusing... – Jon Hanna Jan 16 '15 at 23:00
@JonHanna - You mean they can be confusing. – Hot Licks Jan 17 '15 at 00:57
@HotLicks nope ;) – Jon Hanna Jan 17 '15 at 01:01
@JohnKugelman "Soy yo" literal translation is "am I", not "I am me". – Centaurus Jan 17 '15 at 01:07

score 5 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 16 '15 at 15:52

5

"It has to be them" is current usage. "They have to be them", on the other hand, sounds awkward.

answered Jan 16 '15 at 15:52

Centaurus

50,047

1

@Jon Hanna 'Thy have to be them' sounds tautological. hence the placeholder 'it' seems to overcome that problem. – WS2 Jan 16 '15 at 19:28

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 16 '15 at 15:48

"It has to be them," "It must be them," "They have to be them," are all correct to my ears. I think there is a slight discord with "They have to be them" because of the underlying idea: they are them. "They are them" is quite unidiomatic, whereas the extension you suggest is diluted and so (somewhat) tolerable.

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Jan 16 '15 at 17:28

"They have to be them" would be the logical answer, but it is a little like saying "I am me" which can only be true, and slightly mad...

Imagine instead the French: "Il faut que c'est eux!"

The "Il faut" means "it must be the case", so the sentence really means "It must be the case that it is them!" However, this is a mouthful, so it gets trimmed.

"It has to be them!"

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Jan 16 '15 at 23:58

0

In British English, "It's got to be them!" is about the most idiomatic way I can think of to express this idea.

answered Jan 16 '15 at 23:58

Erik Kowal

26,806

"It has to be them"

5 Answers5