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Gente: singular or plural and how to know.

 

An idiom is an expression whose meaning is not readily apparent based on the individual words in the expression. This forum is dedicated to discussing idioms and other sayings.

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  #1
Old July 08, 2014, 04:33 PM
Gmyers4 Gmyers4 is offline
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Gente: singular or plural and how to know.
En la novela "El Juego Del Angel" por Zafón, parece lo siguiente-

-Este es el teléfono de los vecinos de abajo. Son buena gente y los únicos que tienen teléfono en toda la escalera.

Mi pregunta, ¿Por qué el plural "son" antes del singular gente? ¿Es tal vez un empleo de idiotismo? ¿O un empleo especial?

Gracias por cualquieras ayudas que me puedan dar.

Gmyers4
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  #2
Old July 08, 2014, 05:47 PM
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Gente is singular. Because personas can substitute it in most cases , it's a common error to hear it accompanied with the plural verb tense.
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  #3
Old July 08, 2014, 06:50 PM
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AngelicaDeAlquezar AngelicaDeAlquezar is offline
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"Gente" siempre es singular, pero el sujeto de la oración es "los vecinos de abajo".

Es un regionalismo coloquial que se ha vuelto una colocación; cuando se dice "es buena gente", normalmente se entiende una sola persona. Por eso se dice "son buena gente" para hablar de varias personas. El plural "gentes" (también coloquial) no es tan común.
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Last edited by AngelicaDeAlquezar; July 08, 2014 at 07:00 PM.
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  #4
Old July 08, 2014, 08:19 PM
Gmyers4 Gmyers4 is offline
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Muchas gracias. Estaba pensando en esa direccion, pero no estaba seguro.
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  #5
Old July 09, 2014, 06:08 PM
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Se dice Entre mil gentes hay mil gustos diferentes
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