Mandarin pronouns

Gov. @RonDeSantis: "If we don't get our act together, 25 years from now, school children in this country are going to be forced to learn 37 different pronouns in Mandarin and we cannot let that happen." pic.twitter.com/Wk8dKWlK5h

— Never Back Down (@NvrBackDown24) July 17, 2023

It's just not going to happen.

Mandarin pronouns are famously few.

Mandarin Personal pronouns Person Singular Plural* First person 我 wǒ I, me Exclusive Inclusive 我們** wǒmen we, us 咱們^† zánmen we Second person Informal Formal 你們 nǐmen you 你 nǐ you 您 nín you Third person 他 / 她 / 它 tā he/she/it, him/her 他們 / 她們 / 它們 tāmen they, them^‡

(source)

 

Selected readings

• "The degendering of the third person pronoun in Mandarin" (12/12/13)
• "The degendering of the third person pronoun in Mandarin, pt. 2" (10/16/17)
• "Roman-letter Mandarin pronoun of indeterminate gender " (9/9/16)
• "Nonbinary third person pronoun in written Mandarin" (7/17/21)
• "Tabudish and the origins of Mandarin" (5/21/13)

 

[h.t. Bryan W. Van Norden]