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The listener included in we, or left out

If a friend turns to you and says, 'We won a prize!', do they mean you and them together, or their team without you? English uses the single word 'we' for both situations, whereas languages like Indonesian distinguish these meanings explicitly: kita includes the person being spoken to, while kami leaves the listener out.

5–7 min

Questions you could explore

  • How could changing the listener change the pronoun without changing the group’s size?
  • How do languages with separate inclusive and exclusive forms of we make that distinction explicit?

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The listener included in we, or left out | Speech Topic | speaking.app