English already has a perfectly good singular, gender-netural pronoun:  &quot;it&quot;. We&#x27;re just not used to using &quot;it&quot; for non-child people:<p><pre><code>  When the baby is hungry, it eats.

  When the person is hungry, it eats.
</code></pre>
If you adopt &quot;they&quot;, you have to either adopt plural verbs, or allow &quot;they&quot; to be associated with singular verbs:<p><pre><code>  When the person is hungry, they eat. 

  When the person is hungry, they eats.</code></pre>