How does the English language express gender?
Did you know that about 25% of languages use masculine-feminine nouns and grammatical gender? These include languages like Arabic, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish.
The English language does not do this. There are two main ways that gender is expressed. Firstly, there are some nouns that are masculine and feminine, but these are becoming less common. Think actor/actress, fireman, and King/Queen.
The second way is by using pronouns. Like all parts of speech, pronouns have a purpose. Their purpose is to replace a noun to describe what someone is doing. They are used to make our sentences shorter and less repetitive: in the sentence Helen is driving her car, the word her replaces the noun Helen.
What’s a personal pronoun?
There are many different types of pronouns. Personal pronouns replace words for people, such as names. There are three types of personal pronouns:
- First person pronouns are used to refer to the person who is speaking: I, myself, mine, me, and my.
- Second person pronouns are used to refer to someone who is not the speaker: you, yourself, and your.
- Third person pronouns are used to refer to other people: she, herself, her, he, himself, him, they, themselves, and their.
Why are personal pronouns important?
It's important to get personal pronouns right because they help us talk and interact with people respectfully and inclusively. They’re a very important aspect of a person’s identity and using the correct pronoun is identity affirming behavior that demonstrates respect and positive regard for the person.
How do I use personal pronouns?
Personal pronouns can be used to indicate gender. There is the feminine (she/her) and the masculine (he/him). The feminine and masculine are described as ‘binary’ because they suggest there are only two opposite genders. Here are some examples:
Sonia is an artist. She creates beautiful paintings. I like both her and her paintings.
Li Jun is an artist. He creates beautiful paintings. I like both him and his paintings.
There are also third person pronouns that can be used in more inclusive ways. The most well-known nonbinary gender-neutral personal pronouns are they/them. Since these pronouns do not indicate a person’s gender, they/them can be used by everyone, including people who identify as cisgender, intersex, transgender, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming. An example is:
Bailey is an artist. They create beautiful paintings. I like both them and their paintings.
There are also a range of pronouns called neopronouns that are being increasingly used by people who identify as LGBTIQ+ because they provide more nuanced ways to express identity without referring to gender. These include ey/em, ney/nem, ve/ver, xe/xem, ze/hir, ze/zir, zie/hir, and zie/zir. For example,
Lan is an artist. Ze create beautiful paintings. I like both hir and hir paintings.(Ze is pronounced ‘Zee’ and hir is pronounced ‘here’).
An important rule for English language learners is to never refer to a person as ‘it’. This is because ‘it’ is used to refer to animals and objects, not people!
How do I know which pronoun to use?
This can all seem really confusing, but remember this advice: use the pronoun that a person wants you to use. Ideally people may tell you which pronoun to use:
Hi, my name is Storm and my pronouns are they/them.
In the workplace, you may see a person’s pronouns in their profile, business card, or email signature:
Kind regards,
Max (They/Them)
If you’re not sure, you can ask:
Would you mind sharing your pronouns?
or
What pronouns would you like me to use to refer to you?
If it is not possible to ask a person what pronoun they prefer, use the person’s name or they/them.
What happens if I make a mistake?
Often a person will politely tell you if you make a mistake with their pronouns. Don’t worry if this happens! Just apologize and repeat what you said using the correct pronoun. Remember, it’s more important to use a person’s pronouns than to be grammatically correct.