Gender neutral language in Dutch

Gender neutral language

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Gender neutral language in Dutch. The Dutch language has two or three grammatical genders depending on the geographical area or each individual speaker: common/neuter or masculine/feminine/neuter, although the distinction between masculine and feminine has largely disappeared due to the fact they are grammatically equivalent in almost every aspect. The grammatical gender does not always line up with the natural gender of a word, for example, all diminutive forms are neuter.

Pronouns

The Dutch language does not have any official gender-neutral pronouns, although nonbinary people have adopted other sets of pre-existing pronouns, as well as neopronouns, to work around this issue. A survey by Transgender Netwerk Nederland (Transgender Network Netherlands) showed that hen / hen / hun ("they/them/theirs") is the most popular pronoun set, although the first hen can be replaced by die ("that/who") , die / die / diens is also an option used. Various other inflections can also be replaced by the corresponding form of "die", depending on the individual's preferences and how natural the sentence sounds in the person's regiolect. For example, some might prefer die/hen/diens to distinguish the meaning of die and hen.

Case	Dutch sample sentence
Nominative	Wanneer ik iemand een grap vertel, lacht die/hen.
Accusative	Wanneer ik een vriend begroet, geef ik die/hen een knuffel.
Pronominal possessive	Wanneer iemand niet naar de kapper gaat, wordt diens/hun haar lang.
Predicative possesive	Wanneer ik een GSM nodig heb, leent mijn vriend me die van hen.
Reflexive	Elk kind voedt zichzelf.

"Die" does not have predicative possessive or reflexive forms and thus these have not been included in the table.

Use of "ze"

Use of "ze" is also possible in most cases, its use generally considered informal. It works the same as "they" in English, you use it as if you were referring to a group of people and conjugate the verb accordingly.

Case	Dutch sample sentence
Nominative	Wanneer ik iemand een grap vertel, lachen ze.
Accusative	Wanneer ik een vriend begroet, geef ik ze een knuffel.
Pronominal possessive	Wanneer iemand niet naar de kapper gaat, wordt hun haar lang.
Predicative possesive	Wanneer ik een GSM nodig heb, leent mijn vriend me die van ze.
Reflexive	Elk kind voedt zichzelf.

Family and relationship terms

Parent

• Ouder. Neutral, formal.
• Ouda. Neutral, informal, nonstandard.
• Mapa. Neutral, informal, nonstandard.
• Pama. Neutral, informal, nonstandard.
• Wawa. Neutral, informal, nonstandard.

Partner

• Vriend. Word for platonic friend or romantic partner. Has masculine connotations.
• Vrien. Nonstandard. Neutral word for platonic friend or romantic partner.
• Lief. Neutral word for romantic partner. Casual.
• Partner. Neutral word for (romantic, wedded, or otherwise) partner. More formal.
• Huwelijkspartner. Neutral word bride and groom.
• Bruidspartner. Nonstandard. Neutral word for a spouse-to-be/marrier/nearlywed-person.
• Eega. Archaic, formal, neutral word for wedded spouse.
• Gade. Archaic, formal, neutral word for wedded spouse.
• Levenspartner. Neutral word for wedded partner/life partner. More formal.
• Wederhelft. Neutral word for wedded partner/"better half"/significant other.
• Metgezel. Status- and gender-neutral word for someone's accompanying person.

Wedding words

• Getrouwde/Eega's/Gaden/Levenspartners. Neutral words to refer to two spouses/maritial partners.

• Bruidsgevolg. Nonstandard. Neutral word for bridesmaids and groomsmen, the bridalpair's entourages.

• Respektieve gevolg. Nonstandard. Neutral word for the respective entourages of a marrying couple, bridesmaids and groomsmen.

• Bruidsgevolger. Nonstandard. Neutral word to refer to one person in the bridalpair's entourage.

• Erepersoon/Erevriend/Erevrien. Nonstandard. Neutral word for a maid of honor (/hoofbruidsmeisje) or a best man (/hoofdbruidsjonker).

Child

• Baby. Standard neutral word for very young offspring or very young people.
• Jonkie. Standard, somewhat slang-y neutral word for young people.
• Kind. Standard gender neutral word for a young person or an offspring. Implied age isn't adult, but may be.
• Kleinkind. Standard gender neutral word for the child of someone's child.
• Kleintje. Literally "little one", neutral word for a very young child or young offspring.
• Peuter. Neutral word for a baby. (Child of ~1 to ~3 years old.)
• Kleuter. Neutral word for a toddler. (Child of ~3 to ~6 years old.)
• Tiener. Neutral word for a teenager. (Child of ~10 to ~18 years old.)
• Telg/nageslacht, afstammeling. Neutral, basically means scion/progeny and descendant, alternatives (that might sound weird) to refer to someone in relation to them being one's child, but not necessarily a young one.

Siblings and related family

• Sibbeling. Nonstandard, low-usage. Dutch does not have a standardized word for sibling, but "sibbeling" has been suggested as a neutral option to zus/broer (sister/brother). [1][2] -also possible as Sibbel
• Kleine/jongere/jongste sibbeling, middelste sibbeling, grote/oudere/oudste sibbeling. Nonstandard, low-usage, inferred from ”sibbeling”, means little/younger/youngest sibling, middle sibling and big/older/oldest sibling.

NOTE: There are no neutral alternatives like English's nibling, cousin or pibling for Dutch's nichtje/neef (niece/nephew/cousin) or tante/oom (aunt/uncle). One could instead use descriptive phrases such as "kind van mijn sibbeling" (child of my sibling, nibling), "kind van mijn ouders sibbeling" (child of my parent's sibling, cousin) or "sibbeling van mijn ouder" (sibling of my parent, pibling)

Grandparents

• Grootouder. Neutral Dutch word for grandparent.
• Grootie. Nonstandard. Neutral informal word for grandparent, grandy or grandma/grandpa.
• Opma. Nonstandard. Neutral informal word for grandparent, grandy or grandma/grandpa.
• Owa. Nonstandard. Neutral informal word for grandparent, grandy or grandma/grandpa.

In-law family

• Schoonouder. Neutral Dutch word for parent-in-law.
• Schoonkind. Neutral Dutch word for child-in-law.
• Schoonsibbeling. Nonstandard, low-usage, inferred from "schoon-" (in-law) and ”sibbeling”, means sibling-in-law.

Other terms

• Volwassene. Neutral word for an adult. (Person of ~18 to ~65 years old.)
• Senior. Neutral word for a senior. (Person of ~65 to often the end of their lifespan.)
• Huispartner. Neutral word for housespouse.
• Thuisblijvende ouder. Neutral word for stay-at-home parent.
• Weduwpersoon. Neutral word for a widowed person.
• Weduw. Neutral word for a widowed person. Nonstandard

• Troonopvolger. Neutral word for crownprincess/crownprince.
• Koninklijke afstammeling. Low-usage, means royal descendant. This is a descriptive phrase that can be used instead of the gendered words prinses/prins (princess/prince).
• Koninklijke eega/gade (door huwelijk). Low-usage, eega/gade are archaic words, means royal spouse (through marriage). This is a descriptive phrase that can be used instead of the gendered words prinses/prins (princess/prince).
• Monarch. Low usage middle-Dutch word that can be used as a neutral alternative to queen/king, means monarch.
• Jullie/Allemaal/Mensen. Neutral way of calling multiple people instead of saying girls and/or guys.

Professions/Roles

• Barwerker, barpersoon. Nonstandard alternatives for barvrouw/barman (barwoman/barman) using the inferred neutral words "-werker" (-worker) and "-persoon" (-person) to make it neutral.
• Brandweer/Brandweermens, brandweerlieden/brandweermensen. Neutral words for brandweervrouw(en)/brandweerman(nen) (firewoman/fireman and firewomen/fireman).
• Huisbaar/Hospite. Neutral words for hospita/hospes (property owner).
• Kassamedewerker. Neutral words for kassière/cassière/kassier (cashier).
• Leerkracht/Leraar. Neutral words for lerares/leraar (teacher).
• Auteur/Schrijver. Neutral words for schrijfster/schrijver (author.
• Verloskundige. Neutral word for "vroedvrouw" (midwife).
• Verpleegkundige. Neutral word for verpleegster/verpleger (nurse).

Ethnicity

To accord ethnic names, it is considered most gender-nonconfirming to stick to the male version, as the female alternative versions are only ~40-50 years old now. However, some ethnic names like "Engelsman" contain the word "man", so it is considerd most genderneutral to take the a new version (Engelse). For all country origins, this works the same. Some countries that end in a vowel, like Aruba or Djibouti, are harder to pronounce when conjugated, so it is also common to say something like: "Ik kom uit... [land van geboorte]" (translated: "I'm from... [country of origin]"). Instead, use the same word for languages, such as: "Ik ben Duits" (translated: I am German). If you come from a country that uses multiple languages, you can most often use the conjugation in some form of Country + -s, like: "Ik ben Zuid-Afrikaans). This will always be genderneutral as a standard.

Country	Male	Female	Genderneutral
France	Fransman	Française	Franse
Germany	Duitser	Duitse	Duitser
Belgium	Belg	Belgische	Belg
England	Engelsman	Engelse	Engelse
Suriname	Surinamer	Surinaamse	Surinamer
Indonesia	Indonesiër	Indonesische, Indonees	Indonees/Indonesiër (or 'Indo' from colonial ages)
Spain	Spanjaard	Spaanse	Spanjaard
Italy	Italiaan	Italiaanse	Italiaan
Switzerland	Zwitser	Zwitserse	Zwitser

Honorary titles

"First-name last-name". In many cases, the first and last name can and should be used instead of an honorary title e.g. Kim Jansen instead of mevrouw/meneer Jansen.

But the use of "Mx. last-name" is also becoming more common.

In justice, whether the judge is a male or a female, they are always referred to as "de Heer", meaning "~Mister". Even though this is genderneutral, feminists argue that this is still genderizing language. As an alternative, you may refer to them as the options given above.

	Male	Female	Genderneutral
Salutation	Mr., Dr. (archaic), Dhr.	Mw.	Mx.
In full	Meneer, Dokter, de Heer	Mevrouw	Mix (not really used in speech)

Use of gender and genus in official documents

In schools, teachers are generally not allowed to confirm neo-genderneutral language as valid in CE (Centraal Examen) exams, since it is viewed as incorrect by the State. They can, however, still allow students to make use of this type of language, if at SE (School Examen) exams. This is a choice of their own, and are still legally not required to check it in favor of neo-genderneutral language.

In biology, the Dutch refer to 'man' and 'vrouw' (aka 'geslacht'; genus) to specifically state XY or XX chromosomes. Although genus is built out of ten different components (like facial hair, body structure, etc. NB: 11 when one counts gender), the State refers specifically to the chromosomes as an indicator for genus.

On official documents like passports, identification cards (IDs), driver's license and other official documents is the use of gender and genus a bit confusing to anyone. For example, IDs show as options for genus: 'M/V/X'. According to science, genus will never change with our modern-day knowledge, and thus would mean that people with XX will get assigned a 'V', XY will get an 'M' and people with any other natural variations of chromosomes will receive an 'X'.

But, whenever one has gone through a process of changing that letter, which is legally possible, their letter will now be matching their gender identity, but still, the genus will not change. This is stated as confusing, and is critisized by many, since genus will never change. Debates on how to approach this linguistic issue is still in progress.

Possible outcomes could be:

1. a new line with 'gender: M/V/X', in addition to the genus line;
2. changing the word "genus" for "gender" or "gender identity";
3. removing the M/V/X row altogether.

Next to that, the leading dictionary for the Dutch language, VanDale, describes gender (in their free online dictionary) as:

"gen·der (het; o)

1 geslacht, sekse

2 geslacht waarvan iem. het gevoel heeft deel uit te maken

3 alles wat bij het man- of vrouw-zijn hoort, alle seksegebonden eigenschappen"

This may lead to confusions, since gender and genus used to be synonyms of one another (see option 1). In modern-day society, when we refer to gender, we use only option 2 to describe this. Option 3 is only the description of genus.

See also

• Gender neutral language
• Glossary of Dutch gender and sex terminology
• Pronouns

External links

• nl.pronouns.page, a website about gender neutral pronouns in Dutch