La ropa 'cupe' en el armario? (Caber - preterito indefinido)

Question

La ropa ________ en el armario.The clothes fitted in the wardrobe.(HINT: Conjugate "caber" in Pretérito indefinido)
I assumed the answer would be 'cupieron' because 'the clothes' are plural, but the correct answer is 'cupe'. Can you tell me why?

Silvia Piriz · Accepted Answer

Hola Rich O.
The correct answer is actually "cupo", not "cupe". The verb caber (to fit) is irregular in the preterite tense, and its third-person singular form is "cupo".
The reason we use "cupo" instead of "cupieron" is that "la ropa" (clothes) is a singular noun in Spanish, even though it refers to multiple items. In Spanish, collective nouns like "ropa" take a singular verb.
For example:
La ropa cupo en el armario. (The clothes fit in the wardrobe.)
El equipo ganó el partido. (The team won the game.)
If we were talking about multiple distinct items, we could use "cupieron", like in:
Las prendas cupieron en la maleta. (The garments fit in the suitcase.)
Hope this helps!
Silvia