Fatal error: Unsupported operand types

I'm trying to convert a Perl function to PHP, I get a Fatal error: Unsupported operand types on line that starts with $rank.

I think that is because $total is actually an array but not sure. I could use some help. I asked a question on how to convert entire function. But I thought a more concise question may be easier to get help on.

Thanks!!


for ($i=0;$i<6;$i++) {

     for ($judge = 0; $judge < 5; $judge++) {
          $place=$placements[$judge][$i];
          $total[$place]++;
          $sum[$place] += $place;
     }

for ($place=0;$place<6;$place++) {
       $sum += $sum[$place];
       $rank[$couple]=array($place,-$total,$sum-$total[++$place]);
       if (($total += $total[$place]) > 3) {
                                          break;
                                          }
  }

}


Function in perl is
   for my $place( 1..@couples ){
       $sum += $sum[$place];
       $rank[$couple]=[$place,-$total,$sum,-$total[++$place]], last if ($total += $total[$place]) > @placements/2;
  }