The existence of 她们 (tāmen) is a relatively modern linguistic development in Chinese, reflecting cultural exchange and evolving social norms. For most of Chinese history, the character 他 (tā) was used as a universal third-person pronoun for “he,” “she,” and “it.” The specific character for “she,” 她 (tā), was created in the early 20th century. This invention was heavily influenced by contact with Western languages, which have distinct gendered third-person singular pronouns (he/she). Linguists and writers of the time, like Liu Bannong, advocated for its creation to make translation of Western literature more precise and to modernize the written language. Therefore, the distinction between 他们 and 她们 is a feature of modern written Chinese. In spoken Mandarin, both are pronounced identically as “tāmen,” making the distinction impossible to hear. This contrasts sharply with English, where “they” is gender-neutral in the plural, but is now also increasingly used as a singular non-binary pronoun. Chinese, in its written form, requires the writer to specify the gender of a group, which reflects a different linguistic approach to gender and identity.
Understanding when to use 她们 is straightforward but crucial for correct writing.