"They is" or "They are"

Asked Oct 23 '19 at 14:02

Active Oct 23 '19 at 14:09

Viewed 48 times

As a non-native speaker I try to get myself to accept they as gender-neutral third person singular as this is new to me. To achieve this I would like to have a better understanding on the usage and history.

So when speaking in singular would I say 'they are' or 'they is' and respecively 'they sit' or 'they sits'. The second sounds strange but would be more logical as third person singular has this special case.

Or does this stem from the "pluralisation" (would honorific be the correct word?) of higher ups /royals that it is in fact a plural that is used for a "respected" person and was repurposed for the common use.

According to wikipedia it is "they are", and "they sit" accordingly.

edited Oct 23 '19 at 14:07

asked Oct 23 '19 at 14:02

Kami Kaze

I find it rather confusing that plural and singular pronouns can be the same in english as ambiguous. – Kami Kaze Oct 23 '19 at 14:09
Wikipedia is correct, when a person uses they, even as a singular, they use plural forms of the verb: 'they are'; 'they sit' – Jay Moore Oct 23 '19 at 14:11
We already have this with "you are" which is used in both the singular and plural. – Weather Vane Oct 23 '19 at 14:55

"They is" or "They are"

0 Answers0