英文单数第三人称代词

随着LGBTQ 运动的发展，近几年涌现出一批表示性别的单数第三人称代词。这些新代词，尤其是They/Them，零零散散地碰到过多次，但由于平时使用它们的机会极少，还没有系统地学习和总结过。

冥冥中有种感觉，这世界变化太快，跟不上时代步伐就会落伍。所以，写这篇短文的目的，就是趁机学习和总结一下这些新生单数第三人称代词。希望一劳永逸，从此以后能熟练地掌握它们。即使做不到熟练掌握，也不至于闹笑话。

人称代词分第一人称、第二人称和第三人称。前两种比较简单，指我和你，不涉及性别问题。我们简单提一下这两种人称代词后，重点讲单数第三人称代词，尤其是表示性别方面的。

1. 单数第一人称 （Singular first person pronouns）

单数第一人称指我/我的/我自己，I/me/my/mine/myself。具体使用，可参见下面这个例句。

I am a writer and wrote that book myself. Those ideas are mine. Do you like both me and my ideas?

2. 单数第二人称 （Singular second person pronouns）

单数第二人称指你/你的/你自己，You/you/your/yours/yourself。下面这个例句把所有这些都包括进去了。

“You are a writer and wrote that book yourself. Those ideas are yours. I like both you and your ideas.

因为它们不涉及性别问题，第一和第二单数人称代词没有受到任何影响，也没有任何变化。以前怎样用，今后放心大胆地继续用。

单数第三人代词（Singular third person pronouns）是在谈论别人（第三者）时使用的人称代词。这是本文关注的问题，也是下面的名片里 Gender Pronouns 一栏要填的内容。

毋庸置疑，这一栏目本身也是新生事物。许多人或许从没有见过，但事实上，许多人，尤其是人事部门主管在发邮件时，署名后也往往附加这一栏目。

问题是，名字后面的 Gender Pronouns 这一栏目，应该怎么填？

3. 传统的单数第三人称代词

对绝大多数人来讲，答案非常简单，要么填写 “She/Her”，要么填写 “He/Him”。在非男即女（binary）的传统世界里，只有两种性别：男和女，二选一，没有第三种。

至于在英文里的具体使用，可参考下面的两个例句。这些都非常简单，也是大家都非常熟悉的用法。

She/Her: “She is a writer and wrote that book herself. Those ideas are hers. I like both her and her ideas.”

He/Him: “He is a writer and wrote that book himself. Those ideas are his. I like both him and his ideas.”

4. 表示性别的单数第三人称代词 They/Them

在新涌现的单数第三人称代词中，使用频率最多的毫无疑问是They/Them。至于They/Them到底代表什么性别，旁人千万不要自以为是，更不要去乱猜或乱问，反正不是binary。具体使用，请见下面的例句：

They are a writer and wrote that book themself. Those ideas are theirs. I like both them and their ideas.

这里，they, themself, theirs, them 及their都是指某一个人，单数第三人称。注意，跟在They后面的谓语动词却与复数They一致，即 "They are"，而不是 "They is"，否则语法上说不过去。此外，这里我们通常用 themself, 而不是 themselves。

Merriam-Webster字典对“They" 的 定义里，新增加了一个条目，专门讲解做为单数第三人称表示性别时的使用，并提供了一个很好的例句。这个例句值得我们好好学习。

—used to refer to a single person whose gender identity is nonbinary.

例句：I knew certain things about … the person I was interviewing.… They had adopted their gender-neutral name a few years ago, when they began to consciously identify as nonbinary—that is, neither male nor female. They were in their late 20s, working as an event planner, applying to graduate school.

5. 单数第三人称代词 They/Them的其他用法

需要指出的是，除了特指性别方面外，they/them做为单数第三人称代词，早已普遍使用，并被大部分人所接受。下面是Merriam-Webster字典对They的定义里的相关条目：

3 a —used with a singular indefinite pronoun antecedent

例句：No one has to go if they don't want to.  

这一句的传统写法是：No one has to go if she or he doesn't want to。这样写没有任何问题，而且依然是正确的表达方法。但这样写略显繁琐，用 they 代替 she or he 是语言趋向简单化的结果，并已得到权威字典的认可。

b —used with a singular antecedent to refer to an unknown or unspecified person

例句：An employee with a grievance can file a complaint if they need to. The person who answered the phone said they didn't know where she was.

c —used to refer to a single person whose gender is intentionally not revealed

例句：A student was found with a knife and a BB gun in their backpack Monday, district spokeswoman Renee Murphy confirmed. The student, whose name has not been released, will be disciplined according to district policies, Murphy said. They also face charges from outside law enforcement, she said.

6. 其他单数第三人称代词

新出现的代表性别的单数第三人称代词令人眼花缭乱。除了They/Them外，还有很多，比如 Ze/Hir 和 Ze/Zir。这里谨以 Ze/Hir 为例，用下面的例句来说明其具体使用。

Ze is a writer and wrote that book hirself. Those ideas are hirs. I like both hir and hir ideas.

7. 在性别代词一栏里填“No Pronouns-Use My Name”

还有一种特殊情况，即有人在 Gender Pronouns一栏里填“No Pronouns-Use My Name”。

假定这个人的名字是Sean，在谈论Sean时，我们可以这么写：

Sean is a writer and wrote that book. Those ideas are Sean's. I like both Sean and Sean's ideas.

 

2022年8月27日