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How to call people of unknown gender in English? (he or she)

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iso@lemy.lol
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english_esl@lemmy.ml
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cross-posted from: https://lemy.lol/post/196311

I’m from Turkey so English isn’t my native language. We just call O in Turkish to no matter its he/she/it. Is there an equivalent of this generic term on English?

I don’t want to call he to a female or vice versa.

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iso@lemy.lolOP
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For instance I want to say someone is bad to a person. If I know he is a male, then I can say He is a bad person. But with your example, I should say they are bad person or what? It looks plural.

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MyNameIsRichard@lemmy.ml
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Yeah exactly. They can be plural when referring to more than one person or singular when referring to just one.

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iso@lemy.lolOP
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Hmmm interesting. Can/should I use a/an with this like they are a bad person? My English teacher would beat me for this lol

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MyNameIsRichard@lemmy.ml
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That’s also fine

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