Description[]
Sie/hir neopronouns are a gender neutral pronoun set. They are possibly derived from the German "sie", an equivalent pronoun of "she". In German, in addition to being a feminine pronoun "sie" is used as a neutral pronoun equivalent to "they" or "it" (in the sense that one would call a child "it"), and as formal "you" in both the singular and plural.
There has been debate about whether sie/hir pronouns are useful specifically as gender neutral pronouns, because of the German usage of "sie". However, it is important to note that the German "sie" and sie/hir are two different sets of pronouns which are used in different ways as well as in two separate languages.
The pronouns zie/hir may have derived from sie/hir as a way to distance from the German usage of the pronoun.
There are recorded instances of sie, pronounced as “sea”, and hir, pronounced as “here”, in transgender spaces since the late 90s if not longer, according to a speech Leslie Feinberg gave at a True Spirit Conference workshop. [1]
| Case | Pronoun | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative |
Sie | Sie went to the store |
| Accusative |
Hir | I met hir today |
| Pronominal Possessive |
Hir | Sie walked hir dog today |
| Predicative Possessive |
Hirs | If I need a phone my friend will let me borrow hirs |
| Reflexive |
Hirself | Sie had to drive hirself to school |
References[]
- ↑ Feinberg, L. (1999). Trans Liberation. [online] Boston: Beacon Press, p.71. Available at: https://archive.org/details/transliberationb0000fein/page/71