Esperanto · Chapter 24 · Lesson 14 · Grammar primer
Gender in Esperanto: -in-, ge-, and the reform that waits
The closed set of male roots and the -in- machine, the ge- prefix, the male-default critique stated fairly, -icx- and riismo, and the ri pronoun the Akademio parked until 2031.
The short version
Most nouns have no gender at all
An instruisto is a teacher of any gender; so is a kuracisto, a najbaro, an amiko for many speakers. Only a closed set of roots is inherently male - patro, frato, filo, edzo, viro - and -in- derives the female from them. Everything else is neutral by default, which makes Esperanto tidier than French and the arguments about the exceptions all the louder.
Mia kuracisto estas bonega. (any gender)
Ge-: both at once
The ge- prefix makes mixed-gender groups: gepatroj (parents), gefratoj (siblings), geamikoj (friends of both kinds). It is the tidiest piece of the gender system and completely uncontroversial - unlike the singular gepatro for one parent, which PMEG allows and traditionalists squint at. Use the plural freely; flag the singular as modern.
Miaj gepatroj logxas en la urbeto.
That's the gist. The full article goes deeper - more examples, the edge cases, the why - and the practice below scores like a vocabulary session and earns the same XP.
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