"Those are people."

Translation: Ce sont des gens.

[jbuenaventura]

In English, the word "people" can be used to refer to any plural number of persons.

In French, there are different terms for a countable number of people, a non-countable group of people, and a people—a plurality of persons considered as a whole, as in an ethnic group or nation.

the people in the car (countable): les personnes dans la voiture

nice people (non-count): les gens géntils

the Jewish people (singular): le peuple juif

the indigenous peoples of Australia (plural): les peuples autochtones d'Australie

Try to determine the meaning of 'people' in English before translating:

les personnes - specific people

les gens - people in general

le peuple - a population, or collective group of people

[helenvee]

That''s very helpful. Thank you.

[Querist]

Very helpful, but we still have to decide, without context, which version of "people" this is. :/

[jbuenaventura]

There is enough context to deduce that the statement does not refer to un peuple, nor does it reference any specific personnes, leaving us with only one option: les gens.

[JoeVawn]

Can les gens be singular (le gen) if so, what does it mean ?

[n6zs]

Just as EN "people" cannot refer to an individual person, "les gens" is always plural (there is no singular form).

[jbrown19203]

Why is ces sont des gens wrong svp?

[jbuenaventura]

"Ce" is a pronoun that can mean "it" or "those" (among other things). "Ces" is an adjective meaning "these" or "those" and can only be used with a noun (e.g. "Ces personnes sont des gens").

[blutach]

Can you say ceux-là sont des gens or is ceux only an object pronoun?