Why use "acquéllos" to refer to people

Question

I have just been clarifying when to use which demonstrative pronoun and found the section on the website very useful until I came to one problem. The sentence "Those people over there are from Japan" was answered by replacing "those people over there" with "acquéllos" as opposed to "acquéllas". As the noun, gente, is feminine, why was the masculine form used please?

The spelling of aquellos is wrong and there is no need for a written accent. Maybe the website is not a good one for accurate information. - Jubilado, Oct 10, 2014

Surely because the pronoun refers to a noun, then it should agree Nd have an accent, rather than being a neuter demonstrative pronoun. - ukali, Oct 10, 2014

Oh, and it is on the SpanishDict website. - ukali, Oct 10, 2014

Post the link. - gringojrf, Oct 10, 2014

Answer 1

Did you see the reply in Spanish. Because if you didn't I am betting this is why

Aquellos son de japón. = Those (people) over there are from Japan. The people is implied rather than stated in the translation.

The subject, in your assumption "gente" was omitted completely. Thus the reversion to the masculine for mixed groups.

Okay I found the spot in the Grammar/Demonstrative Pronouns.Q32.

(Those over there) son de Japón. There is nothing in English other than the (Those over there). The word gente is not used. So I stand by my answer above.

In the future, please provide correct information if you are questioning something like this.

Those over there

Yes! - annierats, Oct 10, 2014

Why don't people just ask questions instead of sharing confusion? Thank you Jrf! - Jubilado, Oct 10, 2014

The idea was to replace the English of "Those people over there ...." with the demonstrative pronoun. The answer given was in masculine, not the neutral version. SpanishDict say to replace a feminine noun with a feminine pronoun, but used the masculine - ukali, Oct 10, 2014

Then why don't you post the answer that they gave in Spanish instead of leaving us guessing. Remember often English to Spanish and vice versa the translations are not word for word. - gringojrf, Oct 10, 2014

I am sure your Spanish is better than mine, but I have just pasted this phrase from SpanishDict|:Those people there are from Japan. - ukali, Oct 10, 2014

It specifically mentions the word "people", which is why I do not understand. Not to worry. - ukali, Oct 10, 2014

Answer 2

"Those people over there are from Japan"

There seems to be an emphasis in this sentence of "over there", which aquellos doesn´t translate well. Aquello is used to replace a noun from a previous sentence or a noun in the same sentence that is far from the pronoun, ie: La gente está esperando el avión. Aquella ya tiene cinco horas aquí en el aeropuerto.

There are various valid arguments for either gender, ie: Los que están allí son de Japón (aquellos)

Esa gente que está allí es de Japón (aquella). Probably the most accurate translation of the sentence in question while keeping in mind that the exact translated idea is not always the exact translated word grouping.

Answer 3

Well, I would say, for what it's worth:

Aquella gente, in singular ( gente is hardly ever used in the plural) or 'aquellos turistas son de...' The masculine is used but includes the feminine.

Still don't understand why a masculine form is used for a feminine noun - ukali, Oct 10, 2014

Are you sure the site used ' gente'? - annierats, Oct 10, 2014

The English used was "those people over there are from Japan", which to me would imply that the pronoun replaces the word for "people" - ukali, Oct 10, 2014

Answer 4

Well, I can add a slight complication for the fun of it: Aquellos japoneses son buena gente.

Don't ask me why, but ..`son buena gente..' is such a common expression I think it must be correct.

Son buena gente, Son buena gente,Son buena gente, voy a recordarlo. - Jubilado, Oct 10, 2014