Beginnerneedinghelp Posted December 28, 2012 at 12:54 AM Report Posted December 28, 2012 at 12:54 AM Also, is whether the fact a word is male/female dependent on 1. Who is saying it, or 2. Who it is being said to? Sorry, as you may have deduced from my username, I am a real beginner. 1 Quote
abcdefg Posted December 28, 2012 at 10:34 AM Report Posted December 28, 2012 at 10:34 AM There's no gender-specific "you" pronoun in Chinese. There is a more formal "you" 您，and a less formal one, 你。 There is a gender-specific "him" 他 and "her" 她。 Chinese nouns don't have gender like they do in Romance Languages such as Spanish and French. The gender of the speaker doesn't matter. Quote
anonymoose Posted December 28, 2012 at 10:39 AM Report Posted December 28, 2012 at 10:39 AM The only difference is in writing as 妳 and 你 are pronounced the same, and it depends on the gender of the person being addressed. Note, however, that this distinction is not made in mainland Chinese, which only uses 你. 1 Quote
Meng Lelan Posted December 28, 2012 at 10:20 PM Report Posted December 28, 2012 at 10:20 PM 妳 is used in Taiwan if writing is directed to a female reader. Not used in the mainland though. 1 Quote
abcdefg Posted December 28, 2012 at 11:25 PM Report Posted December 28, 2012 at 11:25 PM 妳 is used in Taiwan if writing is directed to a female reader. Not used in the mainland though. (As usual) I didn't know that. Quote
navaburo Posted December 28, 2012 at 11:39 PM Report Posted December 28, 2012 at 11:39 PM If only there were another ni3 character with 男 on the left and 尔 on the right. Quote
Meng Lelan Posted December 29, 2012 at 12:01 AM Report Posted December 29, 2012 at 12:01 AM heh heh! well that would hold the other half of the pronoun sky. Quote
skylee Posted December 29, 2012 at 12:10 AM Report Posted December 29, 2012 at 12:10 AM Personally I don't use 妳. But I use 她 and 它. Must be an influence of English. Quote
Lu Posted December 29, 2012 at 07:16 AM Report Posted December 29, 2012 at 07:16 AM They were invented early in the 20th century if I'm not mistaken, by progressive writers who felt women should have their own pronoun. Not sure if there was any English influence. The progressive writers were not so progressive that they realized that men were not necessarily the standard (and women a special class that needed their own character), but what can you do. 她 is so common (in both mainland and Taiwan) that using 他 for a woman feels old-fashioned. 1 Quote
Hofmann Posted December 29, 2012 at 05:25 PM Report Posted December 29, 2012 at 05:25 PM It seems so unnecessary to me when genders were never differentiated in pronouns. So write [男尔] and [男也] in protest. Quote
Lu Posted December 30, 2012 at 06:23 AM Report Posted December 30, 2012 at 06:23 AM Unfortunately, as you are demonstrating, it's not possible to type those :-( Quote
tooironic Posted December 30, 2012 at 08:06 AM Report Posted December 30, 2012 at 08:06 AM For what it's worth, I've seen 妳 used in poetry written by Hong Kong writers as well as Taiwanese ones. Quote
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