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Esperaba que hicieras una rica cena para mí - They hoped...?

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Cifi

Esperaba que hicieras una rica cena para mí - They hoped...?

Post by Cifi »

To me, the most likely translation seemed "I hoped...", which coincides with the default translation.

The solution viewer reveals that he/she is equally accepted, which makes sense to me from a grammatical point of view.

So, half of the solutions have [He / I / She], but the other half translate it to plural, They, which is what I don't understand.

Can someone help?

Native: :de: Intermediate: :uk: Lower intermediate: :es: Beginner: :fr: Absolute beginner: 🇬🇷
(If there are errors in what I'm writing in either language, please do correct me - I'll never take it as offense or something like that.)

eI000yo

Re: Esperaba que hicieras una rica cena para mí - They hoped...?

Post by eI000yo »

Hi [mention]Cifi[/mention] !

Most likely the explanation of the use of they is:

Infrequently, they is used of an individual person of known, binary gender

Source: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/they#Usage_notes

Cifi

Re: Esperaba que hicieras una rica cena para mí - They hoped...?

Post by Cifi »

Oh, yes, this makes sense. I didn't think of it because I became aware of this usage fairly recently, so it's still new to me.

Native: :de: Intermediate: :uk: Lower intermediate: :es: Beginner: :fr: Absolute beginner: 🇬🇷
(If there are errors in what I'm writing in either language, please do correct me - I'll never take it as offense or something like that.)

User avatar
WodgerWabbit
Great Britain

Re: Esperaba que hicieras una rica cena para mí - They hoped...?

Post by WodgerWabbit »

The pronoun "they" is often used as a singular in English when the gender is unknown, or for some reason the intention is to hide the gender.

Eg. "I don't know who'se going to be driving, but I hope they know what they're doing".

Eg. "I'll be home late, I'm going out with a friend. They're meeting me at the cinema."

More information at Wikipedia

Last edited by WodgerWabbit on Sat Feb 11, 2023 3:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Native: :uk: | Intermediate: :es: | Beginner: :fr:

User avatar
EranBarLev
Israel

Re: Esperaba que hicieras una rica cena para mí - They hoped...?

Post by EranBarLev »

🇮🇱N 🇬🇧C1 🇪🇸B2 🇵🇹B1 🇫🇷B1 🇸🇦A1 🇷🇺A1

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