grammatical number - "Here is/are" followed by plural

• Here is the documents needed.



• Here are the documents needed.

Which is grammatically correct and why? My guess would be the second one because of the plural form.

Answer

Documents are plural, so the only correct usage is:

Here are the documents needed

This isn't an edge case, so it is simple. Compare

Here are the potatoes

and

Here is the sack of potatoes

Where the subject is plural, you use are and when it is singular you use is.