English differentiates between male and female when singular, but not when plural. The plural is just its own pronoun with its own subject-verb agreement rules.
Male Singular : He eats rice
Female Singular : She eats rice
Male Plural : They eat rice
Female Plural :They eat rice
To refer to a person in the singular, you are forced to reveal the gender. And in contrast, when referring to persons in the plural, you are forced to hide the group's gender.
Japanese differentiates between male and female when both singular and plural, but when in the plural the is the option of not differentiating.There are no subject-verb agreement rules in Japanese.
Male Singular : 彼はご飯を食べる
Female Singular : 彼女はご飯を食べる
Male Plural : 彼らはご飯を食べる
Female Plural :彼らはご飯を食べる or 彼女らはご飯を食べる
While the pronoun forces you to reveal the third person's gender in the singular, one has the option of using the cultural convention of using the non-gendered honorary suffix "-san" with the surname. When referring to persons in the plural form, one has the option of revealing the group's gender only when it is female since the male plural is the default.
Chinese differentiates between male and female when both singular and plural,
but when in the plural the is the option of not differentiating (same as Japanese), except that when spoken, the male and female pronouns sound exactly the same. There are no subject-verb agreement rules in Japanese.
Male Singular : 他吃饭
Female Singular : 她吃饭 (pronounced the same as 他吃饭)
Male Plural : 他们吃米饭
Female Plural :他们吃米饭 or 她们吃米饭 (pronounced the same as 他们吃米饭)
In speech you can only differentiate between plurality, not gender - you are forced to hide the party's gender whether singular or plural.
Hebrew differentiates between male and female in the singular and plural, both when spoken and written. Subject verb agreement rules apply for each of the four combinations.
הוא אוכ אורז Male Singular
היא אוכלת אורז Female Singular
הם אוכלים אורז Male Plural
הן אוכלת אריז Female Plural
Basically you're forced to reveal both gender and plurality all the time.
French Same as Hebrew, except that when spoken, the singular and plural pronouns and verb conjugations sound exactly the same. Subject verb agreement rules apply for each of the four combinations.
Male Singular : Il mange du riz
Female Singular : Elle mange du riz
Male Plural : Ils mangent du riz (pronounced the same as Il mange du riz)
Female Plural :Elles mangent du riz (pronounced the same as Elle mange du riz)
In speech you can only differentiate between gender, not plurality, so you are forced to reveal the gender of the party both when singular and plural, but you are forced to hide the number of persons you are referring to!
So, when you want to hide a person's gender, speak Chinese. When you want to hide your party's number, speak French!
Question: Do you know a language that allows you to hide both gender and plurality?
