Pro tip for people having trouble understanding how they/them pronouns work:
You already know how they work. You use them all the time, “Someone left their bag here. I hope they find it. I’m sure they’re worried. Let’s look for them”.
You can use the exact same grammar rules you already have internalized for this situation. You’re not new to using they/them pronouns, even in the singular, you’re just new to using them for someone when you know what they look like
I absolutely respect other people's desire for they/them pronouns, and I understand how that is necessary for those who consider themselves "agender."
But I have my own take on my non-binary/genderfluid status:
It is impossible to misgender me. You can call me he/him, she/her, or they/them, and it's all good to me because I can be any of those three at any given time, but definitely both masculine and feminine 100 percent of the time.
@danirabbit
Still I'm confused about the purpose of these pronouns?!? 🤔 Is it like the German "Sie" a more formal address instead of "Du". Similar to the old English versions used by e. g. Shakespeare?
... and what is the purpose now?
@stiefel_fan I don’t speak German, but it’s a gender neutral pronoun. It’s for when the subject is neither male nor female, or the subject’s gender is unknown. It’s not more formal.
@danirabbit it's also the same with "you," a formerly plural pronoun now used in singular contexts. People are perfectly fine with saying "you are" instead of "you is"
Hm, "you is" could become a form in the future, along with "I is" as well (children & learners sometimes do both). But it's unlikely - 'to be' has different forms as far back as we can reconstruct it, in Proto-Indo European:
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