Gender neutral language in German

See also: Pronouns#German neutral pronouns

Gender neutral language

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Gender neutral language in German is more difficult than gender neutral language (also called gender inclusive language) in some languages, because German's grammatical gender is pervasive. See the main article on gender neutral language for general reasons to use neutral language, common problems in using it, and its use for nonbinary people.

Nouns, Adjectives etc.

See also: Geschlechtsneutrale Sprache at Nichtbinär-Wiki

Asterisk, Underscore, Punctuation

Pronounced as a pause or glottal stop. In between "feminine" and "masculine" ending, the most common version:

• mein_e beste*r Freund:in

Either after the stem - or more realistically at the next best place that has nothing to do with feminine/masculine forms but makes sense for pronunciation:

• mei:ne bes_ter Freun*din

At random places:

• mei*ne best:er Freundi_n

Can be used consistently or mixed up like in the example above.

X

Pronounced like iks.

• meinx bestx Freundx

(or e.g. Befreunx to avoid basing it on the masculine form) Or write it as -iks.

• meiniks bestiks Freundiks

Shortened words, -ir and -on forms.

Shorten and/or add -ir or -on to make nouns gender-neutral. -ir works as a gender-neutral ending as it is a combination of -in and -er. -on can be used as an alternative to -ir when a word ends on the letter r.

Shortened

• Gema (Gemahlin/Gemahl)
• Prin/Kronprin

Shortened/-ir/-on

• Begleitir
• Chirurgir
• Cousir/Cousinir
• Doktir/Doktoron
• Freundir
• Gattir (Gattin/Gatte)
• Heiratir
• Könir
• Lehrir/Lehreron
• Partnir
• Professir/Professoron
• Schägir/Schwageron
• Trauzeugir
• Verlobtir
• Witwir

Shortened words and nonsense forms

Fairly well known -i words:

• der_die Studi, dix Touri

New words by the same pattern:

• dier Mitbewohni, der*die Kollegi

Use the short -i forms or make up new endings and treat the word as neutrum.

• mein bestes Freundi
• mein liebes Mitbewohnsi

Use -mensch, -menschi, -person:

• das Postmenschi
• meine Liebhabperson
• der liebe Katzenbetreu-Mensch

Or just random words that you think are cute.

• Ich will Fotografierflausch werden.

"-person" and "-mensch"

Pronouns

See main article at German neutral pronouns.

dey

Suggested by Riley Alexis in August 2016, the "dey"-pronoun seems to be the most widespread nowadays. German translation of Starfield vom Bethesda Games Studios uses 'dey'/'demm' pronouns to refer to nonbinary protagonists. Some German speaking influencers use them as their pronouns (cf. @kai.isaiah_jamal) and so do other numerous Instagram users (i. e. search for the key words 'dey/dem' in the Instagram search engine). As for series, Star Treck Discovery uses 'dey' pronouns for their nonbinary/genderless characters.

sier

Ravna Marin Siever, author of the book Was wird es denn? Ein Kind! Wie geschlechtsoffene Erziehung gelingt, uses pronouns from the sier-paradigm for people to refer to them. Several books use 'sier' pronouns.

xier

In the second episode (1:02) of the series City of Ghosts, i. e. Stadt der Geister in German, Thomas states that their pronoun is 'xier'. The blogger Frau Papa Nina tells in an interview from the podcast Das gewünschteste Wunschkind, hosted by Danielle Graf and Katja Seide, t

that they use the pronoun 'xier' for themselves. Several books, series and video games use 'xier' pronouns. For an exhaustive list, see Xier Pronomen in Texten, Serien, Filmen und Video Games from Illi Anna Heger.

hen

In the German version from Kivi & Monsterhund from Jesper Lundqvist and Bettina Johansson, the protagonist, Kivi, who is referred to with the Swedish gender neutral pronoun 'hen', is referred to with the same pronoun in the German translation from Jochen Barthel. 'hen' also seems to be used by some bloggers, instagrammers, and to be currently perceived as popular.

en

An important number of the members of the Verein für Geschlechtsneutrales Deutsch, that is currently growing, uses the en/em forms from the De-e-System as their pronouns.

Tables

The relative pronouns are all similar to the demonstrative pronouns but for the genitive, represented in the last ligne of the table.

Except for the De-e-System (definite article: 'de' [də]; relative and demonstrative pronoun: 'de' [de(:)]), the definite article is similar to the demonstrative personal pronoun.

Primary and demonstrative personal pronouns, relative pronoun and definite article: dominant usage

	nom	acc	dat	gen	gen: relative	examples
dey/dej (syncr)	dey/dej	dey/dej; dem(m) [dɛm]	denen; demm	derer/deren	derer/deren	Dey wohnt in deren eigener Wohnung. Hast du demm neulich gesehen? Wie geht es denen?
sier (ref)	sier	sien	siem	sieser	-	Ich kenne sien nicht. Ist sier hier eingezogen?Ich habe noch nie mit siem gesprochen.
sier (demonstr.)	dier	dien	diem	-	deren	Mit diem will ich nichts zu tun haben. Dier hört mir nie zu!
xier (ref)	xier	xien	xiem	xieser	-	Suchst du xien?Xier ist im Urlaub.
xier (demonstr.)	dier	dien	diem	-	deren	Mit diem will ich nichts zu tun haben. Dier hört mir nie zu!
hän	hän	sin	sim	sirer	-	Ich rufe sin später zurück an, wenn ich mit sim auch entspannt reden kann.
nona (ref)	hen	hen	hem	henser	-	Hen lächelt wie du. Bist du mit hem verwandt?
nona (demonstr.)	dai	dai	dam	dais	-	Dai Tankel, dai neu hier ist, fragt dai Ompa, dam ich mal ein Bild geschenkt habe, wie es hem geht.
g genus (ref)	hen	hen	hem	henser	-	Hen wohnt mit hem in einem Reihenhaus.
g genus (demonstr.)	dio	dio	dero	dero	dereno	Dio Hansi, dereno Geschwister ich noch nie getroffen habe, findet dio Kayan beim Versteckenspielen nie.
de-e (ref)	en	en	em	enser	-	Em schmeckt mein Essen nie. Ich will en nicht mehr einladen.
de-e (demonstr.)	de [də]/[de(:)]	de [də]/[de(:)]	derm	-	dersen	De Studente, mit derm ich gestern gesprochen habe, gefällt mir.

Personal pronouns: peripheral usage

	nom	acc	dat	gen
SYLVAIN-Konvent. (ref)	nin	nin	nim	nimser
SYLVAIN-Konvent. (demonstr.)	din	din	dim	-
sir [zi:ɐ̯] (ref)	sir	sihn	ihrm	sihrer
sir [zi:ɐ̯] (demonstr.)	dier	dien	derm	-
hen	hen	han	ham	-
el	el	en	em	emser
ey	ey	emm	emm	eyser

(almost) Indeclinable personal pronouns

	nom	acc	dat	gen
ens	ens	ens	ens	enser
en	en	en	en	enser
iks	iks	iks	iks	ikser

For an exhaustive list of all existent neopronouns, see https://nibi.space/pronomen#pronomen or https://de.pronouns.page/pronomen

Possessive adjectives

For the sake of clarity, the neuter grammatical gender is omitted from this table.

Inclusive possessive adjective (ownership of any gender)

	nom	acc	dat	gen
'dey/dej' each gender	deren
'sier' Version 2.1m f x	sies siese siesa	siesen siese siesan	siesem sieser siesam	sieses sieser siesas
'xier' Version 3.3 m f x	xies xiese xiesa	xiesen xiese xiesan	xiesem xieser xiesam	xieses xieser xiesas
'hän'm f x	sir sire -	siren sire -	sirem sirer -	sires sirer -
NoNa-System each gender	hens
g-Genusm f x	hens hense henseo	hensen hense henseo	hensem henser hensero	henses henser hensero
De-e-System m f x 3rd p x 1rd p x 2nd p	ens ense ens unse eue	ensen ense ens unse eue	ensem enser enserm unsererm unserers	enses enser ensers unserers eurers

The possessiv adjectives 'deren' and 'hens' offer the advantage of being easily learnable. As for the possessives suggested by the g-Genus, aside from appearing on nonbinary grammatical websites, they don't seem to have gained much popularity on online platforms. The possessive adjectives from the 'hän' paradigm are phonetically similar to the ones of the system proposed by Kathrin Kunkel-Razum, the editor-in-chief of the Duden.

Article pronouns, possessive pronouns

Unlike possessive adjectives ('dein Eis', 'ihr Bleistift', 'unser Löffel'), possessive pronouns ('deins', 'ihrer', 'unserer') stand for the entire possessed object, so they are not followed by a noun or hierarchically tied to one. Thus, they act as an autonomous, unbreakable syntactic unit.

Article pronouns can both function as articles and pronouns without undergoing any formal changes (ex.: Diesen (Pulli) mag ich nicht.). For that reason, demonstratives that also function as pragmatically marked personal pronouns (see table 'Personal pronouns: dominant usage'), are considered article pronouns too, as they can refer to an entire syntagma on their own, or accompany/precede a noun (ex.: Den (Julian) mag ich nicht). In the De-e-system, however, the declension of the demonstrative personal pronoun is different from the other article pronouns.

Inclusive possessive and article pronouns (genderneutral/-inclusive owned object)

	nom	acc	dat	gen
dey/dej	derer
nona (ex with jede-r-s)	jenai	jenai	jenam	-
g genus (ex with jede-r-s)	jedeo	jedeo	jedero	-
de-e (ex with eins-e-er)	einey	einey	einerm	-

(the other sets don't have data yet to add)

Indefinite pronoun

In German, there is the indefinite pronoun "man". This is used in everyday language regardless of gender. But the fact that it sounds exactly like the word "Mann" makes some people uncomfortable. A few decades ago, feminist language critics suggested using alternatives such as "frau" or "mensch". However, the word "frau" only evokes one gender, so it has no real advantage over "man".

From a linguistic history perspective, "man" is an Old High German noun that had the gender-neutral meaning of the word "human" and only later took on the meaning "man" as a noun.

The form "man" is only used in the nominative. In the dative and accusative, the forms "einem" and "einen" are used as indefinite pronouns; there is no genitive form of the indefinite pronoun in German.

"Mensch" and "eins" are suggested alternatives to the subject form of “man”. "einem"/"einen" would stay the same.

Titles

Instead of Frau/Herr

• Frann - nonstandard
• Ind. von "Individuum", nonstandard
• Mau - nonstandard
• Per - nonstandard
• "Vorname, Nachname" - In vielen Fällen kann und sollte man anstelle eines Ehrentitels der Vor- und Nachname verwenden, z.B. "Kim Müller" statt "Frau/Herr Müller".

Professional & Academic Titles

• Doctorx - nonstandard
• Professorx - nonstandard
• Professx, abgekürzt Prof. oder Profx. - nonstandard

Family, relationship and people terms

See also: Nichtbinäre Wörter at Nichtbinär-Wiki

Parent

• Elter - German word for parent, will sound awkward but be recognised
• Elta - nonstandard
• Mapa - nonstandard
• Pama - nonstandard
• Wawa - nonstandard

Child

• Kind - standard
• Kleines - standard
• Großes - standard
• Enbie, Enby - instead of Mädchen/Junge/Bub, nonstandard
• Spross/nachkomme, means sprogeny/offspring/descendant

Aunt/Uncle

• Eltergeschwister - nonstandard
• Eltschwister - nonstandard
• Onte - nonstandard
• Pibling - nonstandard
• Tankel - nonstandard
• Tonke - nonstandard

Niece/Nephew

• Nibling - nonstandard
• Niffe - nonstandard
• Geschwisterkind - nonstandard
• Schwisterkind - nonstandard
• Seitkind - nonstandard

Cousin

• Batter
• Cousibling
• Cousir/Cousinir
• Seitschwister

Grandparent

• Großelter - nonstandard, will sound awkward but be understood
• Ohlta - nonstandard
• Opma - nonstandard
• Owa - nonstandard

Sibling

• Bruderin, Bruder*in - nonstandard
• Brüderin, Brüder*in - nonstandard
• Geschwister - standard, but not commonly used
• Geschwisterchen - standard but old fashioned and usually used for very young siblings
• Große/Ältere Geschwister - big/older sibling
• Kleine/Jüngere Geschwister - little/younger sibling

Partner

• Brautpartnir - nonstandard
• Eheperson
• Ehepartei
• Eheteil
• Eheherzmensch - married to the heart person
• Eheperson
• Eheherzperson
• Freun - nonstandard
• Freunir/Freundir - nonstandard
• Freund*in
• Gattir - nonstandard, oldfashion, from Gattin/Gatte
• Gema - nonstandard, oldfashion, from Gemahlin/Gemahl
• Gespons - oldfashion
• Heiratir - nonstandard
• Herzmensch - literally heart person, used as a term of endearment
• Liebschaft
• Paarteil
• Partner*in
• Partnir - nonstandard
• Verlobtir - nonstandard

In-law

• Schwiegerelter - nonstandard, parent-in-law
• Schwiegergeschwister - nonstandard, sibling-in-law
• Schwiegerkind - nonstandard, child-in-law
• Schwiegerperson - in-law person
• Schwiegschwister - nonstandard, sibling-in-law
• Schwägir/Schwageron - nonstandard, sibling-in-law

Other

• Begleitir - nonstandard neutral word for one's company/companion

• Brautentourage - nonstandard neutral word for wedding entourage
• Erwachsene Person - neutral word for adult
• Hauspartnir - nonstandard neutral word for housespouse

• Hauselter - nonstandard neutral word for houseparent
• Jemensch - non-male-generalizing alternative to jemand
• Jugenlicher/Jungere Person - neutral word for youth/young person
• Niemensch - non-male-generalizing alternative to niemand
• Leut - nonstandard singular version of Leute
• Leute - standard word for people
• Trauzeugir - nonstandard neutral alternative to trauzeugin/brautjungfern and trauzeuge(n)
• Verehrte/Liebe Publikum/Gäste/Leute/Menschen - neutral alternative to "ladies and gentlemen"

• Verheirateten - neutral alternative to married couple
• Witwir - neutral alternative to widowed person/wid
• Älterer person - neutral alternative to old woman and old man

Other terms

• Bürgir/Bürgeron - nonstandard neutral word for citizen
• Chirurgir
• Doktir/Doktoron
• Kollegir
• Könir - nonstandard neutral alternative to queen (königin) and king (könig)
• Könirlich - nonstandard neutral alternative to royal (königlich)
• Mittbewohnir - nonstandard neutral alternative to mittbewhonerin/mittbewohner
• Lehrir/Lehreron
• Prin/Kronprin - nonstandard alternatives for princess/prince and crownprincess/crownprince. Can also be described as "königlicher Nachkomme" (royal descendant), "königlicher Erbe" (royal heir) or "königliche Partner/Partnir/Gema (durch Heirat)" (royal partner/consort, through marriage)
• Professir/Professoron - nonstandard alternatives for professor
• Schülir/Schüleron - nonstandard alternatives for school-student
• Studentir - nonstandard alternative for student
• Thronfolger - neutral word for crownprincess/crownprince
• Regent/Monarch - standard neutral alternatives to queen and king
• Reich/Könirreich - neutral alternatives to kingdom (königreich)

See also

• Gender neutral language
• Glossary of German gender and sex terminology
• German neutral pronouns

Main resources

1. Nichtbinär-Wiki (2024): Geschlechtsneutrale Sprache. Online at: https://nibi.space/geschlechtsneutrale_sprache.
2. Pronouns.page (2024): Liste bekannter Pronomen. Neopronomen. Online at: https://de.pronouns.page/pronomen.
3. Pronouns.page (2024): Wörterbuch für geschlechtsneutrale Sprache. Online at: https://de.pronouns.page/substantive.
4. Illi Anna Heger (2022): Pronomen wie sier und xier. Online at: https://www.annaheger.de/pronomen/.
5. Verein für geschlechtsneutrales Deutsch e. V. (2024): De-e-System. Online at: https://geschlechtsneutral.net/gesamtsystem/.