You probably know the meaning of both words in today’s expression. Buena means ‘good’ and gente means ‘people’. That means that this expression means nothing more than ‘good people’.
That’s all fine, but it’s still an important expression to know. Especially in Spain people use it a lot, but not only for a group of people. You can say buena persona but as soon as is more that one it becomes buenas personas. That’s not the case with buena gente.
If someone says buena gente he/she can mean a group of just one person. For example; someone is complaining about another person (a popular hobby in Spain, trust me) but ends his/her bragging by saying something like: “pero es buena gente” – ‘but he’s/she’s a good person’.
So with this expression there are no rules to remember, you can simply use it for a group, person, man, woman; anyone!
Spanish Expression of the Day: ¡qué fuerte!
Spanish Expression of the Day: ¿se puede?
Spanish Expression of the Day: hasta ahora
Spanish Expression of the Day: ¡se siente!
Spanish Expression of the Day: lo antes posible
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
You can say the same thing in English. You can say that a person is "good people" with the same meaning as you describe.
Hm, you're right. But to me it still sounds a bit weird in English, don't know why.