From ‘they’ to ‘latinx’: how gender pronouns have expanded beyond the binary

What pronoun do you use to identify yourself? He? She? They? Something altogether different?

It’s a question increasingly asked as acceptance of a spectrum of gender and sexual identities grows. Some languages, such as Chinese and Persian, don’t assign nouns a gender or already have a gender-neutral form for people built in. But in languages whose grammar is traditionally based on exclusively male or female options, the answer to this question can still require an explanation.

So how do you talk about being queer or non-binary or gender nonconforming in grammatically gendered languages? In many ways, in fact.

In recent years, LGBT activists and linguists around the world have championed more inclusive language, both by creating entirely new non-binary terms and by retooling already existing words and grammar constructions. It’s not always easy.

For some people, it can be hard, scary or simply tiresome to keep explaining why they need more inclusive language. And it can be dangerous: just in the United States, hate crimes against the LGBT community have been rising the past three years, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

So for the next time you ask or are asked around the world, here’s a look at some possible answers in seven languages:

English: ‘they’ as singular and gender-neutral