Facebook - 'it' or 'he'?

My cousin talks about Facebook as 'he'. I'm trying to let him know that Facebook isn't a person, so is 'it', not 'he'. Can someone help me?

user57019

Posted 2016-06-22T09:48:47.677

Reputation: 3

Possibly his native language does not differentiate genders (he/she/it etc.)? – user3169 – 2016-06-23T01:24:51.087

Yes, we speak spanish, we're Puerto Ricans but he just start learning english cause He is Regular Army, and cause Im national guard he think he know more english than me that I've been speaking english since I was five, I actually born in NY but then I move then I came back, now im 21 and want to be a better speaker than me. – user57019 – 2016-06-23T01:41:57.813

Answers

You are right - Facebook isn't a person (or pet animal), so English speakers use the pronoun 'it'. In many languages, nouns have grammatical gender, which means people have to call a table 'he' and a chair 'she' (for example). Some speakers of those languages incorrectly carry that over into English.

Sydney

Posted 2016-06-22T09:48:47.677

Reputation: 6 681

Thanks so much. I've been speaking english since I was five yrs old and he just start learning and he doesn't want me to help him. – user57019 – 2016-06-22T10:26:19.133