It’s a rare example of English being simpler than other languages, so I’m curious if it’s hard for a new speaker to keep the nouns straight without the extra clues.

  • ERROR: Earth.exe has crashed@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    9
    ·
    16 days ago

    Technically English is my third languge, but also simultaneously my most fluent.

    In short, not confusing at all. Because in Chinese (any variation of Chinese) nouns are also not gendered.

    Pronouns in Chinese are also not gendered

    He = 他 (tā)

    She = 他 (tā)

    No confusion with pronouns either. My parents constantly say he when refering to a woman, or she when refering to a man, or mix them up while talking about the same person in the same conversation. No me tho, I never get confused. I learned English at like grade 2-3.

    • Tkpro@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      16 days ago

      What? She in Chinese is 她. It might not be used often but it definitely is gendered…

      • ERROR: Earth.exe has crashed@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        edit-2
        16 days ago

        Nope. 她 isn’t really used. 他 is the pronoun, even if its refering to women.

        Like if you wrote 他 to refer to a woman in an essay on a test, it’d get marked as correct.

        Edit: Although, on the internet, people commonly type “TA” instead of “他”.

        Edit 2: So clarification

        他 refers to both men and women

        她 can only be used to refer to women, and this is rarely used, except maybe in english class to teach about the english pronouns

        它 refers to non humans, like animals or objects

        all 3 are pronounce the same exact way (tā)

        • HatchetHaro@lemmy.blahaj.zone
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          16 days ago

          hmm, idk man, over here 他 is only for men, and 她 is only for women.

          though in speaking we just use 佢 because canto