inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (1Pet. 1:12)

Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)

The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).

Some languages also differentiate between a general inclusive (everyone belonging to a group, present or not) and a specific inclusive (everyone belonging to a group that is present during the discourse). Isthmus-Mecayapan Nahuatl as one of those languages uses a generic form (“tehemen”) for this verse.

Source: Howard Law in Notes on Translation with Drills, p. 160ff.

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