Learn Hardcore Spanish (Spain): En aquella provincia, la gente habla con una sinceridad que a mí me da mucha confianza. - In that province, people speak with a sincerity that gives me a lot of confidence.

En aquella provincia, la gente habla con una sinceridad que a mí me da mucha confianza.

In that province, people speak with a sincerity that gives me a lot of confidence.

Breakdown of En aquella provincia, la gente habla con una sinceridad que a mí me da mucha confianza.

Questions & Answers about En aquella provincia, la gente habla con una sinceridad que a mí me da mucha confianza.

Why is it aquella provincia and not esa provincia or esta provincia?

Spanish has a three-way distance system for demonstratives:

esta = this, near the speaker
esa = that, near the listener or not very far away
aquella = that over there, more distant

So aquella provincia suggests a province that feels more distant, either physically or in the speaker’s mind.

Also, provincia is feminine singular, so the demonstrative has to match:

aquel pueblo
aquella provincia
aquellos pueblos
aquellas provincias

Why is it la gente habla and not la gente hablan?

Because gente is grammatically singular in Spanish, even though it refers to a group of people.

So you say:

La gente habla muy rápido.
La gente es amable.

Not:

La gente hablan
La gente son amables

This is different from English, where learners may think of people and expect a plural verb. But gente works more like the population or the public grammatically: singular form, singular verb.