# If someone comes tell them to wait for a while



## Encolpius

Hello, someone is gender neutral in English, and you have to use plural (them) after it.
How about your language? How would you translate the sentence in the title? Thanks.

*Hungarian*
Ha *valaki *jön, mondd meg neki, hogy várjon egy kicsit. /since we have no grammatical genders, it is easy, but we have plural of someone)
Ha *valakik *jönnek, mondd meg nekik, hogy várjanak egy kicsit.

*valaki *- someone; neki - to him // *valakik *- some people - nekik  to them


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## Nawaq

si quelqu'un viens dis-leur/dîtes-leur d'attendre un moment...

*French*


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## Dymn

*Catalan*:

_Si ve algú, digues-li que esperi una estona

Li _is the 3rd person singular indirect object pronoun, no gender distinction in IO pronouns.

---

*Spanish*:

_Si viene alguien, dile que se espere un rato.
_
Same in Spanish, no gender distinction, _le _works for both masculine and feminine.

---

As you may know, in Romance languages the masculine is the "default" gender, and I think it would be a long and interesting topic to talk about how society regards gender in language.


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## apmoy70

Greek:

*«Αν κάποιος έλθει, πες του να περιμένει»* [an ˈkapç͡os ˈelθi pes tu na peɾiˈmeni] --> _if someone (masc.) comes, tell him to wait_ (sing.).
*«Αν κάποιοι έλθουν, πες τους να περιμένουν»* [an ˈkapç͡i.i ˈelθun pes tus na peɾiˈmenun] --> _if __some people (masc.) come, tell them (masc.) to wait_ (pl.).
If the person(s) is/are female specifically, then we use the feminine pronouns «κάποια» [ˈkapç͡a] & «της» [tis] (sing.), or «κάποιες» [ˈkapç͡es] & «τους» [tus] (pl.).
So, no gender-neutral pronouns in Greek.

Edit: Just wanted to add that «κάποιος» substitutes the noun «άνθρωπος» [ˈanθɾopos] --> _human being, man, person_ which is masculine, hence the pronoun's masculine gender.


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## Encolpius

Thanks. Interesting 
French - plural 
Spanish, Catalan - singular
Greek - So you have plural of someone just like we have? Interesting. 
I am more interested if you use singular or plural than any gender-neutrality.


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## Sardokan1.0

in Sardinian "someone" is singular even if I speak about one or more persons; what changes is the 3rd person singular indirect object pronoun : Li (singular) Lis (Plural)

example :

If someone comes tell them to wait for a while -> Si bènit calicùnu nàralis qui aispètten un'iscutta ("lis" is the contraction of the Latin "illis = to them")

If someone comes tell him to wait for a while -> Si bènit calicùnu nàrali qui aispèttet un'iscutta

As we can see "someone" remains always the same, only the 3rd person singular indirect object pronoun changes, and the verb referring to the subject, in this case the verb "to wait" that uses the subjunctive present


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## jazyk

I would use no pronoun in Portuguese: Se alguém vier, diga para esperar um pouco/diga que espere um pouco. But if I were forced to use one, the pronoun would be singular and masculine: lhe (indirect pronoun), o (direct pronoun).


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## Encolpius

Yes, I think English uses plural (them instead of him/her) due to *political correctness*, so the correct answer in a test is only them, not him or her. No such problems in Hungarian, no gender, but we distinguish plural and singular, it seems Greek, too.


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## ger4

German uses the singular masculine:
_
Wenn jemand kommt, sagen Sie ihm..., _lit. 'if someone comes, say you him...'

(If you want to stress the fact that the person might be a woman, you could add ... _oder ihr, '_or her').

The plural form _ihnen_, 'them', would be less usual but possible.


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## Dymn

Nawaq said:


> si quelqu'un viens dis-leur/dîtes-leur d'attendre un moment...
> 
> *French*


Why not _lui_?


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## ThomasK

Holger2014 said:


> German uses tI he singular masculine:
> _
> Wenn jemand kommt, sagen Sie ihm..., _lit. 'if someone comes, say you him...'
> 
> (If you want to stress the fact that the person might be a woman, you could add ... _oder ihr, '_or her').
> 
> The plural form _ihnen_, 'them', would be less usual but possible.


As for Dutch, I could give the same answer, but if it's clear that there will be more people, I might go for "mensen" (people) simply: "Als er mensen komen, zeg hun dan dat..." The _someone/ them_ combination sounds strange, I think, in Dutch..


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## Armas

Finnish has singular *joku* "someone" and plural *jotkut *"some people". After the singular we use sg pronoun and after the plural, plural.

Singular: Jos joku(sg.) tulee, pyydä häntä(sg.) odottamaan "If someone comes, ask him/her to wait" (gender neutral).

The usage and the meaning of the plural is not that simple though.


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## DaylightDelight

Japanese: We usually omit the object of the second clause.
誰か来たら、待つように言って = If someone comes, tell (that one) to wait.
/dareka kitara, matsuyōni itte/

If we need to specify, we use a demonstrative pronoun and a regular noun "その人 /sono hito/" (= that person).
誰か (=someone) is gender neutral, and our language doesn't have plural forms.


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## Encolpius

ThomasK said:


> ....The _someone/ them_ combination sounds strange, I think, in Dutch..



I think the English combination is strange, too, but natives might have a different opinion.


Armas said:


> ... The usage and the meaning of the plural is not that simple though.



Too bad we do not know each other's language. It is very simple in Hungarian, why isn't it simple in Finnish?


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## Armas

It's difficult to explain... The pl.nominative jotkut seems unfitting in your example sentence. If I knew everyone who might possibly come, then it would be OK. And if I'd say Jos jotkut tulevat liian aikaisin... "If some people come too early...", it seems OK. The plural partitive joitakuita on the other hand can also mean "some (but not many)".


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## Encolpius

I am afraid after rereading my second Hungarian sentence it sounds a little be strange,too.  It has no logic, you cannot know if there will be 1 or two people.


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## spindlemoss

Encolpius said:


> Yes, I think English uses plural (them instead of him/her) due to *political correctness*...



Not usually due to political correctness. We've been doing it since at least the Middle English of the 14th century i.e. 700 or more years. 19th century grammarians got their knickers in a twist about it, hence why it is seen as wrong by some in formal language, but now that "gender-inclusive" language is in vogue, it's gaining ground even in more formal contexts.


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## Encolpius

So the sentence: *If someone comes tell him to wait* is really false?


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## Nawaq

Diamant7 said:


> Why not _lui_?



I am a little confused now. 
I simply translated the _them_ from OP, but now that I think about it, I don't know if _lui_ is possible too/better...


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## Ectab

Arabic: someone احد is masculine therefore we use the masculine pronoun هو ـه he him\his
Arabic does not have neutral gender instead we use the masculine gender if we need to refer to both genders.
even other sentences that refers to neutral gender like "A teacher should be nice to students" we use the masculine gender since teacher refers to both genders.


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## spindlemoss

Encolpius said:


> So the sentence: *If someone comes tell him to wait* is really false?



I know the use of singular *they *has been proscribed since the 19th century, but I don't know its history of "gender neutral" *he *before that i.e. whether it was used alonside singular *they *or not, sorry. I'd be interested to find out.

Either way, it would seem like very marked speech to use *him* in that example in modern English of any kind. I have a feeling, as a Brit, that some Americans are less ready to accept singular *they* than we are in the UK, along with things like using *who* for *whom*.


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## mataripis

Tagalog: Kung may natawag ( if someone call). sabihin mong sandali lang(tell them to wait for a while).


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## 123xyz

Macedonian:

Ако *некој* дојде, кажи *му* да почека.

The indefinite pronoun is singular masculine, and the second clause has to agree with it in this respect - you cannot introduce a plural for the purposes of gender neutrality.

You can, however, have a feminine, neuter, or plural indefinite pronoun, i.e. "некоја", "некое", and "некои", but that would change the meaning from "someone" to "one of X", where X is a set of feminine, neuter, bzw. plural entities which is known from the context, i.e. a specific set which is being awaited, rather than "some human being". So, if I'm at home reading and fear that someone, really any person, might come to my door, it would need to be "некој", but if I've invited five girls to my house and am awaiting them, then it would be "некоја", i.e. "one of the girls". I suppose it's not simple as that, but I find it difficult to discuss the subtleties without external context (i.e. an actual conversational scenario). In any case, I suppose that the masculine singular "someone" is unmarked, whereas the other forms are marked.


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## ilocas2

Czech:

Kdyby *někdo* přišel, tak *mu* řekni, ať chvilku počká.

*somebody/someone - him*


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## merquiades

Encolpius said:


> Hello, someone is gender neutral in English, and you have to use plural (them) after it.
> How about your language? How would you translate the sentence in the title? Thanks


I'd say, 
_if someone comes tell him to wait a while._
and I'd probably say the same thing in French
_Si quelqu'un vient, dis-lui d'attendre un peu_.


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## KalAlbè

merquiades said:


> I'd say,
> _if someone comes tell him to wait a while._



I wouldn't say _him _unless I'm sure it's a man. Otherwise, I'd say _them _as it would the most natural choice for me and as a second option: _him or her. _


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## Jimbob_Disco

I agree with you here, KalAlbè.

In Italian:

_Se qualcuno viene, dici che deve aspettare un po.
_
In Russian:

_Если кто-то подходит, говоришь чтобы ему/ей* надо ждать.
/Yesli kto to podkhodit, gavareesh chtobi yemu/yay* nado zhdaty/
*masc/fem
_
Warning: I’m not native!


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## velisarius

I agree too. Gender-neutral  "anyone, someone" isn't "politically correct". It was the norm when I was growing up and political correctness hadn't even been invented.

_If anyone/someone comes, tell them I'm out._


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## bearded

Jimbob_Disco said:


> Se qualcuno viene, dici che deve aspettare un po.


More idiomatic:_ Se viene qualcuno, digli di aspettare un po'.
Attention: 'dici'_ is indicative only.
And we do say -gli (him) as it refers to 'qualcuno' who might also be a woman (masculine used as neuter).


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## Jimbob_Disco

Thank you very much! It’s always great to get my translations improved by a native.


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## bearded

My pleasure.


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## Ífaradà

Nawaq said:


> I am a little confused now.
> I simply translated the _them_ from OP, but now that I think about it, I don't know if _lui_ is possible too/better...


I think_ leur_ is the best way to translate it. 

In Norwegian we could say: _Hvis noen kommer be dem om å vente en stund_. The alternative would be to use either _him_ or _her_ in place of _them,_ but that would imply you already know the specifics of who's coming. So_ dem_ seems to me to be the more general term. In French if you used_ lui_, that would imply you already knew only one person was coming.


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## bearded

Nawaq said:


> si quelqu'un viens? dis-leur/dîtes-leur d'attendre un moment...
> *French*


Si quelqu'un vien*t*, dis-lui d'attendre un moment.
''Leur'' would be just a translation from English 'them', but I think it's not correct in French, since ''quelqu'un'' is singular...


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## Jimbob_Disco

bearded said:


> Si quelqu'un vien*t*, dis-lui d'attendre un moment.
> ''Leur'' would be just a translation from English 'them', but I think it's not correct in French, since ''quelqu'un'' is singular...


I agree, bearded.  In my opinion, it should be one of these six:

_Si quelqu’un vient, *dis*-*lui* d’attendre un moment._
_Si quelqu’un veint, *dis*-*elle* d’attendre un moment._
_Si quelqu’un vient, *dis* d’attendre un moment._
_Si quelqu’un vient, *dites*-*lui* d’attendre un moment._
_Si quelqu’un vient, *dites*-*elle* d’attendre un moment._
_Si quelqu’un vient, *dites* d’attendre un moment._

*Red* = informal ‘you’
*Green* = formal ‘you’
*Blue* = masculine singular ‘them’
*Pink* = feminine singular ‘them’


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## bearded

Jimbob_Disco said:


> Si quelqu’un veint, *dis*-*elle* d’attendre un moment.


I don't think that's correct either, sorry. In French, for him/her (indirect object/dative) there is only 'lui' for both genders, as far as I know.
Example: _J'ai vu une femme et je *lui *ai dit qu'elle est belle _(I saw a woman and told her that she is pretty).

Therefore, the only correct formulation is _Si quelqu'un vient, dis/dites-*lui * d'attendre un moment _(in my opinion).
No. 3 and 6 - without pronoun - are grammatically correct (although I feel that with the pronoun the sentence is more idiomatic).


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## JClaudeK

Nawaq said:


> si quelqu'un vien*t,* dis-leur/dîtes-leur  d'attendre un moment...


 If there are several persons arriving, the only way to use "leur" would be:
S'il y a *des gens* (=people) qui *viennent*/ S'il y a *du monde *(=some persons) qui *vient*, dis/dites-*leur* d'attendre un moment.


merquiades said:


> and I'd probably say the same thing in French
> _Si quelqu'un vient, dis-lui d'attendre un peu_.





Jimbob_Disco said:


> Si quelqu’un vient, *dis*-*elle*  d’attendre un moment.


bearded is right:


bearded said:


> I don't think that's correct either, sorry. In French, for him/her (indirect object/dative****) there is only 'lui' for both genders, as far as I know.
> Therefore, *the only correct formulation is *_*Si quelqu'un vient, dis/dites-lui d'attendre un moment* _(in my opinion).
> No. 3 and 6 - without pronoun - are grammatically correct (although I feel that with the pronoun the sentence is more idiomatic).  - Much more !



**** Le pronom complément indirect (COI) remplace un nom de personne et répond à la question à qui ?
3ème personne singulier (masculin et féminin):* lui*


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## Jimbob_Disco

bearded said:


> I don't think that's correct either, sorry. In French, for him/her (indirect object/dative) there is only 'lui' for both genders, as far as I know.
> Example: _J'ai vu une femme et je *lui *ai dit qu'elle est belle _(I saw a woman and told her that she is pretty).
> 
> Therefore, the only correct formulation is _Si quelqu'un vient, dis/dites-*lui * d'attendre un moment _(in my opinion).
> No. 3 and 6 - without pronoun - are grammatically correct (although I feel that with the pronoun the sentence is more idiomatic).


Grazie! È molto utile...


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