# Gente (people) - singular / plural



## Haylette

Hello,

I don't actually speak Spanish, but I need to know whether the spanish word for "people" is treated as a singular noun.

For example, if you were to translate literally, word for word, would you say

"people knows that..." or "people thinks that..."

Hope you understand what I'm trying to say.


Haylette


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## rocstar

La gente está lista....(singular).........The people are ready.(plural)
La gente necesita dinero.(singular)...The people need money.(plural).

Rocstar


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## Haylette

Thanks very much, rocstar


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## chicanul

"la gente" is generally a singular noun:

_La gente está lista para correr._
_La gente está bien preparada._
_Vi a gente corriendo del incendio._
_No hay gente que le guste que le roben su dinero._
_Toda la gente del mundo tiene vicios._
_El es muy buena gente._

Note, however, that "gentes" is often used in colloquial Spanish (and not in formal Spanish as far as I know). This is a difficult aspect of the language for English learners to learn. For example, on CNN en español, the former president of Mexico-Vicente Fox said:

_"Esas gentes tienen que presentar pruebas." _(The people who are currently accusing him of receiving illegal pensions.)

In Spanish, the singular is often made plural, which sounds strange to students of the language. See:

la conducta vs. las conductas
la atención vs. las atenciones

Etc.


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## softouch_me

Gente en sí envuelve a un grupo de personas.
También es usado en forma singular refierendome a mi , especificamente:
La gente  sabe a que atenerse.. me refiero a mí que sí sé a lo que voy.. espero entiendan el ejemplo.


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## Outsider

Haylette said:


> I don't actually speak Spanish, but I need to know whether the spanish word for "people" is treated as a singular noun.


A problem: there is not a single translation of "people" in Spanish.

When you are talking about a group of people that form an ethnicity, or about people in general, the word is *gente* (singular).

But when you are talking about an arbitrary group of particular people, the word is *personas* (plural).


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## rocstar

Outsider said:


> *A problem: there is not a single translation of "people" in Spanish.*
> 
> When you are talking about a group of people that form an ethnicity, or about people in general, the word is *gente* (singular).
> 
> But when you are talking about an arbitrary group of particular people, the word is *personas* (plural).


 
What do you mean by the sentence in blue ?

Rocstar.


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## Outsider

"People" can mean in Spanish:


*personas* (plural)

*gente* (singular)

*pueblo* (singular -- I had forgotten about this one)
The proper translation depends on the specific meaning of the word (or context, if you prefer).


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## rocstar

*gente**.*
(Del lat. _gens, gentis_).

*1. *f. Pluralidad de personas.
*3. *f. Cada una de las clases que pueden distinguirse en la sociedad. _Gente del pueblo._ _Gente rica o de dinero._

*5. *f._ Am._ *persona* (individuo).

Rocstar.


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## Outsider

¿Y? 

You still say "*la* gente", not "*las* gente", don't you?


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## delhi

rocstar said:


> *gente**.*
> (Del lat. _gens, gentis_).
> 
> *1. *f. Pluralidad de personas.
> *3. *f. Cada una de las clases que pueden distinguirse en la sociedad. _Gente del pueblo._ _Gente rica o de dinero._
> 
> *5. *f._ Am._ *persona* (individuo).
> 
> Rocstar.



La cuestión es que no se puede traducir "people" como "persona", sino como "personas" o "gente" si se habla de un grupo de personas.

Outsider: a veces se dice "las gentes", no estoy segura de si es correcto o no, pero si no es "la gente".


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## rocstar

La gente está contenta.
Las gentes están contentas. (Algunas personas pluralizan, pienso que *no *es correcto, pero quizá algun dia esto cambie.)

Rocstar.


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## rocstar

Hola:
Esto dice el DPD:
*gente*. *1. *En el español general, este sustantivo femenino se emplea como nombre colectivo no contable y significa ‘personas’: _«La gente acudía a su bar»_ (Obligado _Salsa _[Arg. 2002]); _«En torno a nosotros había un grupo de gente joven que reía y voceaba»_ (Salisachs _Gangrena_ [Esp. 1975]). Como otros nombres colectivos, admite un plural expresivo, usado casi exclusivamente en la lengua literaria: _«Fue ella quien me introdujo en las cosas, en las comidas, en las gentes de aquí»_ (Benedetti _Primavera _[Ur. 1982]). La divergencia entre su referente (plural) y su número gramatical (singular) puede dar lugar a errores de concordancia (→ concordancia, 4.7).

(Parece que en México *YA* cambió)
Rocstar.


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## delhi

Now, natives (or anyone who knows), can you say "I'm good people" to mean "Soy buena gente", or "He's good people", to mean "Él es buena gente"?


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## Outsider

delhi said:


> Outsider: a veces se dice "las gentes", no estoy segura de si es correcto o no, pero si no es "la gente".


Verdad, pero "gente" sigue siendo singular, y además creo que en esos casos "gentes" no es traducción de _people_, sino de _people*s*_.



rocstar said:


> *2. *En el español de ciertas zonas de América, especialmente en México y varios países centroamericanos, se usa también con el sentido de ‘persona o individuo’, es decir, como sustantivo contable y no colectivo: _«Luis era una gente muy caballerosa»_ (_Prensa_ [Nic.] 3.2.97); [...]


Eso es irrelevante, porque en ese caso "gentes" no se traduce como _people_, sino como _person_.


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## Haylette

I got a few more replies than I bargained for when I posted this question!
It's clear to me now though.

Thanks to all

Haylette


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## roanheads

delhi said:


> Now, natives (or anyone who knows), can you say "I'm good people" to mean "Soy buena gente", or "He's good people", to mean "Él es buena gente"?


 
Hola delhi,
No,-- we can say, " I am a good person " or He / she is a good person, but we can say " They are good people "
Hace poco, estuve en Chile, y pregunté por un amigo,-- me dijeron " sí, sigue trabajando acá, es buena gente." ---- We translate that as " ---- he is a good person.

Un saludo.


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## Papik

delhi said:


> Now, natives (or anyone who knows), can you say "I'm good people" to mean "Soy buena gente", or "He's good people", to mean "Él es buena gente"?



Hola amigos:
En Perú entendemos lo siguiente:

"Pedro es buena gente" = Pedro es amable, simpático, comedido, servicial , etc.

"Juan es una buena persona" = Juan es honesto, bondadoso, recto, confiable, etc.

Saludos


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## chicanul

As Papik said, you can say either "es buena gente" or "es buena persona" for both males and females; you can pluralize it for ellos/ellas/ustedes as well. As in English, there are many ways to say someone is nice, as well: simpático, bueno, amable, etc..


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## delhi

roanheads said:


> Hola delhi,
> No,-- we can say, " I am a good person " or He / she is a good person, but we can say " They are good people "
> Hace poco, estuve en Chile, y pregunté por un amigo,-- me dijeron " sí, sigue trabajando acá, es buena gente." ---- We translate that as " ---- he is a good person.
> 
> Un saludo.



¡Muchas gracias! Como dijeron más adelante, en castellano hay una ligera diferencia entre "buena gente" y "buena persona", por eso no sabía como era en inglés. ¡Gracias!


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## Dawei

roanheads said:


> Hola delhi,
> No,-- we can say, " I am a good person " or He / she is a good person, but we can say " They are good people "
> Hace poco, estuve en Chile, y pregunté por un amigo,-- me dijeron " sí, sigue trabajando acá, es buena gente." ---- We translate that as " ---- he is a good person.



I disagree. It is possible, at least in colloquial English, to say "he's good people" to mean "he's a good person."  I don't know when or where this little phrase got started, but it is heard every once in a while in America.


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## PinkCream69

Creo que "gente" al ser UN sustantivo colectivo es singular; mire, tome de referencia "la jauria" o "la bandada" o "el enjambre" o cualquier otro; siempre serán singulares.


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## roanheads

Hola delhi,
De nada, creo que fue un hilo muy interesante para todos.

Haylette, by the way, there is another similiar word " gentío " which means "a crowd or throng of people", also " gentuza " which means " a rabble " of people.
Good Luck !


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## juan2937

Outsider said:


> ¿Y?
> 
> You still say "*la* gente", not "*las* gente", don't you?



Derecho de gentes, don de gentes, apóstol de las gentes.


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## Barbara S.

Lorca uses "las gentes" in one of his plays and it's not meant to be incorrect speech. I was shocked, just shocked. Also I've noted examples in which la gente (which is always singular), is followed by sentences in the plural. Something like "La gente que vive en las montañas es muy buena. Hacen sus casas de .... Just like in English when we say, "Everyone was very quiet. They all stood up when the coffin passed by."


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## Giorgio Spizzi

Hullo, Barbara.

That is what happens with words which have a plural semantics but a singular morphology/syntax.
I wonder whether Spanish expresses the concept which is expressed in English by "PeopleS", as in "The Indo-European peopleS..." by means of "Las genteS ... ".

GS


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## macame

Giorgio Spizzi said:


> I wonder whether Spanish expresses the concept which is expressed in English by "PeopleS", as in "The Indo-European peopleS..." by means of "Las genteS ... ".
> 
> GS



Yo diría pueblos en este caso.


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## Cenzontle

Here's a use of "gente" that took me by surprise:
A Cuban woman said to me "Yo no soy una gente interesada",
which, by the context, I took to mean "I'm not a person with a hidden agenda" or "My motives are altruistic".
(I assume she was not saying "una *a*gente".)


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## Barbara S.

Giogio, the "peoples" is the "pueblos" in the sense of the pueblos de las Americas etc. I've also heard "las gentes" used as a variation of "la gente" in Mexico.


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## macame

Cenzontle said:


> Here's a use of "gente" that took me by surprise:
> A Cuban woman said to me "Yo no soy una gente interesada",
> which, by the context, I took to mean "I'm not a person with a hidden agenda" or "My motives are altruistic".
> (I assume she was not saying "una *a*gente".)



En el español de América, gente y persona son sinónimos:



> gente *5.* f._ Am._ *persona* (‖ individuo).
> *6.* f._ Am._ Persona decente. _Ser gente._ _Creerse gente._ _Hacerse gente._
> Real Academia Española © Todos los derechos reservados


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## Barbara S.

Gente and persona are not always synonyms in Mexico, but there are certain set phrases in which they are. Es buena gente = He's a good person = Es buena persona. Otherwise, gente (or gentes) is used to mean people in the English sense of there were a lot of people at the party, había mucha gente. But if we you want to say there were a lot of drunk people, you might say, había muchas personas borrachas. I'd say it's really hard to generalize about usage for all of Latin America since there are so many variations, even in one country.


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## Sherlockat

While on the subject...
*Había un gentío que no podía ver nada.*


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## juan2937

Sherlockat said:


> While on the subject...
> *Había un gentío que no podía ver nada.*



El *gentío*, jóvenes, adultos, niñas y señoras no podían/podía ver nada.
La *gente*, damas y caballeros salían/salía del teatro.
El *público*, los más convencidos, aplaudían/aplaudía calurosamente.
El *vecindario*, con la cabeza baja y confundidos, asistían/asistía al funeral

Esta concordancia '*AD SENSUM'* , según el sentido es un capítulo interesante del castellano en la obra ' Gramática descriptiva de la lengua española de Bosque y Demonte, tomo 2,  42.10.1.3.


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## Markdowd

I was leaving a village in Guatemala this morning and I was asked:

"despidiste a las gentes?"........did you say goodbye to everyone?

I think it has use in the plural form, in some parts, perhaps more then we assumed.


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## outkast

Markdowd said:


> I was leaving a village in Guatemala this morning and I was asked:
> 
> "despidiste a las gentes?"........did you say goodbye to everyone?
> 
> I think it has use in the plural form, in some parts, perhaps more then we assumed.


Sure, you also have to take into account the level of education of who says that.


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## Markdowd

This was from an Jesuit priest with a doctorate.......


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## Markdowd

I am pretty sure I said goodbve (despedirse)....but again I stress, the original thread was about gente/gentes....


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## outkast

Markdowd said:


> I am pretty sure I said goodbve (despedirse)....but again I stress, the original thread was about gente/gentes....



OK, you made your point, it should have been "gente"
You know K, you've got a point.
 It doesn't ask "te despediste..." but "desp*e*diste..." 
 It could be the Jesuit priest fired them folks.


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