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Each of my brothers wants his own car

I already know that each is always paired with singular but is the usage of "his" correct? Should it be "their" or "it"?

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  • My brothers want their own car. Each brother wants his own car. O seu próprio carro.
    – Lambie
    Commented Oct 21, 2023 at 19:05
  • Yeah, not being able to say "seu" in the sentence got me confused because we don't have to involve gender in portuguese and the genderless pronoun would be "their" but that doesn't match in terms of number...
    – Letícia Vasconcellos Alves
    Commented Oct 21, 2023 at 19:10
  • their is not necessarily genderless: The ladies wore their best outfits to the party. The men wore their best outfits to the party. their is for men or women or the new pronoun they. They wore (new pronoun) their best outfit to the party. Mas claro, acaba sendo uma bagunça esse uso de their.
    – Lambie
    Commented Oct 21, 2023 at 19:12
  • Oh thank you for the clarification!
    – Letícia Vasconcellos Alves
    Commented Oct 21, 2023 at 19:14
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    O meu gato se chama Coco Leticia. :) Adoro esse nome.
    – Lambie
    Commented Oct 21, 2023 at 19:21

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Your sentence is correct.

"Each" is indeed a singular pronoun, so the singular "his" is correct.

"Their" is naturally used about people when the sex is unclear:

Each of my siblings wants their own car.

It's becoming more common to use "their" when the sex is clear, as in your example sentence, but some will still insist on using "their" only when the sex is unclear. So in daily life, "his" or "their" are both fine, but in class, or for an assignment or exam, use the singular as much as you can.

"It" isn't the right part of speech at all. "Its" is the correct part of speech, but is incorrect because brothers are people, and "its" only refers to non-humans.

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    If you had siblings of more than one gender, you could say 'each of my siblings wants his or her own car', but some people would find it awkward or objectionable for one reason or another.
    – Michael Harvey
    Commented Oct 21, 2023 at 19:02
  • Oooh thank you so much! If the sentence was "each of them" instead of "each of my brothers", would it still be correct to say "his" (considering that the people in the conversation know that "them" refers to the brothers)?
    – Letícia Vasconcellos Alves
    Commented Oct 21, 2023 at 19:03
  • @LetíciaVasconcellosAlves As long as it's clear from the context that "them" refers to your brothers (or some group of males), then yes, "his" would still be correct
    – gotube ♦
    Commented Oct 21, 2023 at 19:56

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