Even in France , we have our local tra’s

submitted by AnokiFrench from i.imgur.com

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[–]julesburm1891 7 insightful - 1 fun7 insightful - 0 fun8 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Just out of curiosity, what on earth are made up French pronouns? My grasp of the language is very basic, but it seems like something where you absolutely couldn’t avoid gender or comfortably add non-binary options.

[–]Eurowoman24 7 insightful - 2 fun7 insightful - 1 fun8 insightful - 2 fun -  (2 children)

that's true, I can't think of a single word that's not gendered. They added iel/they on their profile, which sounds like a bad mashup of il (masc) and elle(fem). Just like someone not wanting to be called he or she anymore, though it's even funnier because there's no equivalent for the singular use of they(it can be used in the singular form right?). What we have is ils/elles = they, nous= we, vous = you. The closest perhaps is vous, but it sounds stupid because vous is what you use with strangers, when you're not that familiar with someone (so you have to keep using the formal vous, til they give you permission to use the informal tu) or someone older that you need to respect like a teacher, or your in laws. It's a form of respect really.

[–]julesburm1891 5 insightful - 2 fun5 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

Iel sounds like something you’d hear in Lord of the Rings. If it’s making an English speaker cringe, I’m sure it’s extra rough for you guys.

So you’re saying there’s no way to make it work at all?

They is weird. You can use it as a singular in very casual spoken situations. (E.g. “They’re coming over tonight, right?”) It’s incorrect for formal settings or written English though. You would use he, she, or he or she. (E.g. “If an employee has a complaint he or she may contact Human Resources.”). The same goes for his and hers. You could say a singular their in casual conversation, but it’s incorrect in formal and written settings. I don’t know of an equivalent gaffe in French.

[–]Eurowoman24 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I don't think so but it's funny seeing them try. the easiest would be vous but for the reasons i stated above its dumb.