Tko je plakala?

[totalcroatia]

Language question out of interest from a conversation that came up over lunch. I was talking to my young daughter who woke us up at 3am in tears over something. All fine now and I jokingly asked her

Tko je plakala sinoc?

I was told that it was not plakala but plakao, which I understand as the general rule.

But in this case, both the person asking and being asked understood that said person was a female, so wouldn't tko je plakala be correct in this case?

Technicalities I realise, but I enjoy this kind of distinction.

Thoughts of learned Croatian grammarians?

[quest]

It's assumed you don't know who did it if you're asking, so for whatever reason the male form is used for unknown genders. It doesn't matter whether it's a joke question or that you know the answer. "Tko" is a male.

[hreljanwc7y1qk]

In cakovski (from the Primorje region) the phrase would be:
Ka je plalala
for a male it is
Ko je plakal