• ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca
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    2 hours ago

    Languages evolve through use

    You can use vous in place of il elle, just like there is nothing stopping people from using they in place of he/her in English

    • LadyAutumn@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      2 hours ago

      Did… did the tables not help? They can be used as either singular or plural but it’s always third person.

      If I was speaking directly to you, and you used they/them pronouns. I wouldn’t convert the sentence “You are tall” to “They are tall”. Those 2 sentences mean entirely different things. That’s what the “person” part of a pronoun is. It’s who you’re referring to. 1st person is the person speaking, 2nd person is the person being spoken to, and 3rd person is someone about whom you are speaking.

      1st - “I am tall.”

      2nd - “You are tall.”

      3rd - “He/She/They is/are tall.”

      1st - “Je suis grand.”

      2nd - “Tu/Vous es grand.”

      3rd - “Il/Elle est grand(e).”

      Does this help? Tu is already not gendered. Vous isn’t gendered either. It’s not the same as “they” at all. It means an entirely different thing.

      • ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca
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        2 hours ago

        You/they aren’t gendered already. You/They are tall. He/She is tall

        People started using them as pronouns even though you would never say “they is tall”

        It’s the same thing

        • LadyAutumn@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          2 hours ago

          No you’d say “They are tall.” Because that’s how we conjugate that in English. They has always been used as both a singular and a plural because we don’t always know the gender of who were talking about. In French il/ils is the default when you don’t know a 3rd person’s gender. Il/ils is masculine.

          It isn’t. I’m a French speaker, I’m telling you it isn’t. Vous is second person singular or plural. They is third person singular or plural. They is NEVER second person. Vous is NEVER third person. This is how the language is used around the world today.