A question for hispanohablantes: When to say "con gente que" vs. "con la gente que"?
I seem to bump into both versions. But are both correct or not? Differences in the usage, perhaps? What if you are to use the subjunctive? Are you supposed to omit the article then always?
E.g.
"Quisiera estar con gente que hable español."
And what if we change the word to "perro"?
E.g.
"Quisiera caminar con un perro que no ladre."
Right or wrong? Article now needed, right?
Articles are always tough for finlandeses: we don't have any ourselves! As far as foreign languages are concerned, it's a head scratcher to try to omit an article... never really 100% sure when to do it.
Search from various English teachers...
Answers · 6
1
Yo pienso que cuando usas "la gente" te sirve para especificar, por elemplo
"esta es la gente de la que te hablé", haces énfasis en "esa" gente por eso es "la" gente.
Y cuando usas "gente" no haces referencia específica a alguien en particular.
En tu ejemplo "Quisiera caminar con un perro que no ladre." estás queriendo especificar que quieres caminar con "el perro" por eso cambias a "un perro".
Espero te sirva.
1
* When you say "Quisiera estar CON GENTE QUE hable español" (without article) you mean PEOPLE IN GENERAL, without specifying
*If you say "Quisiera hablar CON LA GENTE QUE hable español" (with a definite article) you mean people of a particular group
** "Quisiera hablar CON UN PERRO que no ladre" (use of the undefinite article) refers to a broad, not known or unidentified group
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