la gente agreement with obstinado?
My sentence is Habría menos polarización, separación y violencia si la gente serían más comprensivo y tolerante y serían menos -obstinado-. I've been told the correction for obstinado is that it needs to agree with la gente/ & is a gender mistake so I need to change feminine or masculine form. What is the correct way to fix that?
2 Answers
I have seen that you have made some mistakes in your sentence. This is your sentence corrected:
Habría menos polarización, separación y violencia si la gente fuera/fuese más comprensiva y tolerante y fuera/fuese menos -obstinada-.
As you can see you have use the conditional of the verb "ser" instead of using the imperfect subjunctive, and the other mistake is that the gender of "gente" is feminine so all the adjectives must be end in "a" to express this gender but those that have only one form such as "tolerante" , which doesn't change with the gender.
Juaner has given you the correct way of expressing things.
To help you understand the grammar:
Although in English we say "the people are..." because we view it as plural I guess, in Spanish it is singular, and it is the "la gente es..." not "son". This carries through to all verb conjugations. "La gente" is feminine, even though it may contain males. Just as "el amor de mi vida" is "el amor" even though she is definitely female.
This is a hypothetical if sentence, in which case what follows if is imperfect subjunctive- see this lesson, note although the referent is present/future, you use past subjunctive, you essentially (there are some exceptions, yes) never use present subjunctive after if. But the conditional tense belongs in the other clause- often one half or another of a hypothetical if is left unsaid and is not necessarily that hypothetical, just softening, eg: (I would like you to bring me a cup of tea (if you were to be so kind)):
http://users.ipfw.edu/jehle/courses/condic.htm
IIIb
In contrast, an unreal or contrary-to-fact condition is one which will not come about or is viewed as being completely hypothetical. In this case, the “if” clause in normally in a past subjunctive tense, and the main verb is in a conditional tense.
1 Present or future time situations. The imperfect subjunctive is used in the “if” clause, and the conditional in the main clause:
Si yo fuera rico compraría un coche. If I were rich [I am not rich] I would buy a car.
¿Qué harías si fueras presidente? What would you do if you were president? [you aren't]
Si Juana estuviera aquí, ¿le dirías la verdad? If Juana were here [she isn't here], would you tell her the truth? 2 Past time situations. Past perfect subjunctive in the “if” clause, conditional perfect in the main clause:
Si la hubiera visto, habría dicho algo. If I had seen her [I didn't see her] I would have said something.
Si hubieras venido, te habrías divertido mucho. If you had come [you didn't come] you would have had a great time.
¿Habrías ido a la fiesta si yo la hubiera planeado? Would you have gone to the party if I had planned it? [I didn't plan it]
