Friday, June 1, 2007

He or she?

Finnish doesn't distinguish between he and she, and uses the word hän for both of them. This has the disadvantage that you can't work out in some sentences whether the subject is male or female - but if you think about it that's actually an advantage. Writing instruction manuals is easier in Finnish than in English because you don't have to use clumsy constructions like "he or she" (and the corresponding requirement to switch she and he around each occurrence), or grammatically incorrect ones like "they".

In fact the only disadvantage to the Finns is that you meet the occasionally novice English learner who says things like "I saw my brother yesterday, and she is doing well." (For some reason they more commonly use she when they should use he, rather than the other way around).

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