Gender neutral language in German

See also: Glossary of German gender and sex terminology

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 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.

Pronouns

See main article at German neutral pronouns.

Titles

Instead of Frau/Herr

• Frann - nonstandard
• Ind. von "Individuum", nonstandard
• Mau - nonstandard
• Per - nonstandard

Professional & Academic Titles

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

Family terms

See also: Nichtbinäre Wörter at Nichtbinär-Wiki

Parent

• Elter - nonstandard, will sound awkward but be recognised
• Mapa - nonstandard
• Pama - nonstandard

Child

• Enbie, Enby - instead of Mädchen/Junge/Bub, nonstandard
• Großes - standard
• Kind - standard
• Kleines - standard

Aunt/Uncle

• Tankel - nonstandard

Niece/Nephew

• Nibling - nonstandard

Grandparent

• Großelter - nonstandard, will sound awkward but be understood

Sibling

• Bruderin, Bruder*in - nonstandard
• Brüderin, Brüder*in - nonstandard
• das Geschwister - nonstandard, will sound awkward but be understood
• Geschwisterchen - standard, but old fashioned and usually used for very young siblings
• der/mein Schwester - nonstandard

Partner

• Freund*in
• Herzmensch - literally heart person, used as a term of endearment
• Eheherzmensch - married to the heart person
• Eheperson
• Eheherzperson
• Liebschaft
• Partner*in

See also

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

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. Verein für geschlechtsneutrales Deutsch e. V. (2024): De-e-System. Online at: https://geschlechtsneutral.net/gesamtsystem/.