

For these people, being referred to with the correct pronouns can help alleviate that dysphoria, increase their self-esteem, and improve their overall sense of self. This is particularly important for transgender and non-binary people who may wrestle with gender dysphoria – a feeling of discomfort or distress associated with the mismatch between their sex assigned at birth and gender identity. By respecting someone’s pronouns, you show the person that you respect who they are and how they identify. Pronouns are personal identifiers, just like people’s names.

These are called rolling pronouns and can be used alternately in a sentence or across separate sentences.


Some gender non-conforming and transmasculine/transfeminine people prefer using more than one set of pronouns. Some examples of neopronouns include ey/em/eirs and ze/zir/zirs. The term “neopronouns” describes a new category of gender-neutral pronouns that are used as an alternative to they/them/theirs pronouns. Shutterstock NeopronounsĪlthough the singular “they” is the most popular gender-neutral pronoun, there are several other options out there. Gender-neutral pronouns are also often used by non-binary and gender non-conforming people who don’t strictly identify as either male or female. They didn’t leave a note though.” or “I called a plumber to check out the sink. The most common example of gender-neutral pronouns is the singular they/them/theirs pronouns.įor example, you can say “Someone left a package outside your door. Gender-neutral pronouns are pronouns that are often used by a speaker when referring to someone whose gender is unknown. In English, we have the pronouns he/him/his to refer to people who identify as men and the pronouns she/her/hers for people who identify as women.
