Ok so I was doing some sentences and saw that it kept saying “onna no hito” and “Okoto no hito” (sorry for the Romani I don’t have a Japanese keyboard). Is the hito part necessary? From my understanding it just means woman person or man person. Or is it something else? Thanks for any help!
Aside from what @ansair already said, I'm pretty sure it can be used also to specify age. You wouldn't call a child 女の人 or 男の人 but instead 女の子 or 男の子. 男 and 女 aren't specific about age at all. At least, that's how I learned it several years ago.
Also, if you're thinking that it seems like an overly long way to talk about people, Japanese has dozens of ways to talk about people. Just know a lot of those are saved for later in most courses because they're typically less formal.
女 and 男 can be found on public toilet doors for example.
I used 女 once in a chat and was informed by a JP guy that it's like saying "that slut".
女の人 and 男の人 are often found in children's books. It's the most simple, straight forward way of referring to women and men. You'll learn other words for man/woman later on.
女の人 -> "A way to avoid saying 女 directly", I'm dead
Litteraly, one of the definition that I found in a japanese dictionary. Very japanese too x). 女の方 being the more polite version. (you can find the equivalent for 男の人)
So it's not mainly a difference in meaning but rather how to avoid being too direct. Roundabout way of saying things are generally perceived as more polite. The の人 version is a bit like the middle ground version or the neutral one if you prefer.
It's fine to use 女 with really "good" friends in casual conversation and if can understand that you're joking but otherwise it's too blunt. It's a bit like saying "Hey woman" in english, I think. Some people won't mind it but other will just be offended if you talk to them like that.
