Gente

[bobjenkins]

Hola ¿puedo usar las palabras así en el singular?

Eres un mal gente

Pienso tener razón porque otras palabras parecidas como policía (soy policía) pueden estar en el singular, pero no seguro en eso

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Sí, se puede usar así.

Eres (una) mala gente.

Personally, I prefer "eres una mala persona", but the choice of "gente" for a single person in colloquial Spanish is not incorrect.


Juan es una gente a la que le gustan los gatos. Tiene once.
Juan is someone who likes cats. He has 11.


Some other collective nouns can be used also that way.

María me quiere porque soy su única familia.
María loves me because I'm her only relative.

Soy policía desde hace un año.
I have been a policeman since one year ago.

[bobjenkins]

Originally Posted by AngelicaDeAlquezar

Sí, se puede usar así.

Eres (una) mala gente.

Personally, I prefer "eres una mala persona", but the choice of "gente" for a single person in colloquial Spanish is not incorrect.


Juan es una gente a la que le gustan los gatos. Tiene once.
Juan is someone who likes cats. He has 11.


Some other collective nouns can be used also that way.

María me quiere porque soy su única familia.
María loves me because I'm her only relative.

Soy policía desde hace un año.
I have been a policeman since one year ago.

Muchas gracias!

[CrOtALiTo]

Originally Posted by bobjenkins

Hola ¿puedo usar las palabras así en el singular?

Eres un mal gente

Pienso tener razón porque otras palabras parecidas como policía (soy policía) pueden estar en el singular, pero no seguro en eso

Not really you should pronoun the phrase so.

Eres mala gente.


There only fault the letter A.

Regards.

[Perikles]

Sorry, off-topic but:

Originally Posted by AngelicaDeAlquezar

Soy policía desde hace un año.
I have been a policeman since one year ago.

*cough* I have been a policeman for one year

How would you say 'I need to telephone the policeman because his wall has collapsed' ?

Would you use el policía ?
(An unlikely sentences, but I actually needed to say that to a neighbour yesterday, because we have another neighbour who is a policeman whose wall had collapsed.)

[pjt33]

Originally Posted by Perikles

Would you use el policía ?

Sí.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Originally Posted by Perikles

Sorry, off-topic but:

*cough* I have been a policeman for one year

How would you say 'I need to telephone the policeman because his wall has collapsed' ?

Would you use el policía ?
(An unlikely sentences, but I actually needed to say that to a neighbour yesterday, because we have another neighbour who is a policeman whose wall had collapsed.)

@Perikles: So I don't seem to ever get it right... can I contact you in private for some lessons on this?
Thanks for the correction.


I agree with pjt.
"El policía" is the policeman and "la policía" is the police.
One could also say "el agente de policía", but that's too long for daily speech.

Your sentence should be:

Tengo que llamar al policía porque su pared se cayó/se derrumbó/se vino abajo/se colapsó.

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by AngelicaDeAlquezar

@Perikles: So I don't seem to ever get it right... can I contact you in private for some lessons on this?
Thanks for the correction.

PM on its way

Originally Posted by AngelicaDeAlquezar

@Your sentence should be:

Tengo que llamar al policía porque su pared se cayó/se derrumbó/se vino abajo/se colapsó.

Thanks for the help. Not only with al policía but also with a clear example of what confuses me with the use of preterite/perfect tenses. It would be unthinkable for me to say
I have to telephone the policeman because his wall collapsed (preterite),
I would always say ...because his wall has collapsed (perfect).

The key difference is the effect of now, (i.e. there are massive stones all over the road NOW and I can't use my motorbike) which in BrE needs the perfect tense (and, as far as I know, also in French, German, Latin and Greek). In Spanish you use the preterite.

I am beginning to think that I should forget the perfect tense. It is never used in Tenerife anyway.

[irmamar]

Originally Posted by Perikles

PM on its way
Thanks for the help. Not only with al policía but also with a clear example of what confuses me with the use of preterite/perfect tenses. It would be unthinkable for me to say
I have to telephone the policeman because his wall collapsed (preterite),
I would always say ...because his wall has collapsed (perfect).

The key difference is the effect of now, (i.e. there are massive stones all over the road NOW and I can't use my motorbike) which in BrE needs the perfect tense (and, as far as I know, also in French, German, Latin and Greek). In Spanish you use the preterite.

I am beginning to think that I should forget the perfect tense. It is never used in Tenerife anyway.

In Spain we say "porque la pared se ha caído", too.