Gender in Esperanto: -in-, ge-, and the Reform That Waits

Esperanto has no grammatical gender: one article, no agreement, and most nouns are neutral. What it has is a short list of male roots, the suffix -in- to make the female, and the prefix ge- for both sexes together. Around that sits a live debate about ri and -iĉ-.

No grammatical gender

There are no masculine and feminine nouns, and adjectives do not change for sex. The article is always la:

• la bona kuracisto - the good doctor (of any sex)
• la bona knabino - the good girl
• la granda domo - the big house

A French or German learner spends years on noun gender. An Esperanto learner spends an afternoon on a word list, and -in- never spreads to the rest of the sentence: la bela knabino, never belina.

Neutral roots and male roots

Most roots are sex-neutral. PMEG says the neutral group is sendube la plej granda, without doubt the largest. It holds homo, persono and infano, and the profession nouns.

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1. 1kuracisto
2. 2instruisto
3. 3kuiristo

A doctor (here a woman), a teacher and a cook (here men): kuracisto, instruisto, kuiristo. Profession nouns say nothing about sex.

• Ŝi estas kuracisto. - She is a doctor.
• Li estas kuracisto. - He is a doctor.

A short list of roots is male. PMEG calls this group much smaller and pli fermita, more closed, and ends each group with k.a., and others:

The trap is assuming the list is longer: amiko and studento are not on it. A handful of roots are female in themselves (damo, a lady), and they take no -in-.

-in- and vir-

-In- makes the female of a male root. One suffix, no exceptions, no change to the root:

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1. 1avino
2. 2avo
3. 3patrino
4. 4patro
5. 5onklo
6. 6fratino
7. 7frato

avino, avo: grandmother, grandfather; patrino, patro: mother, father; onklo: uncle; fratino, frato: sister, brother.

-In- can also specify the female of a neutral root. PMEG calls this optional, though traditionally speakers add it routinely when they mean a woman or a female animal:

• bovino - a cow (bovo, a bovine of either sex)
• hundino - a female dog
• kuracistino - a woman doctor (correct, and says more than kuracisto)

Going the other way, the root vir- in front marks a male:

• virbovo - a bull
• virhundo - a male dog

-In- is also a word, as most affixes are: ino is a female, ina is female as an adjective.

Ge-: both sexes together

Ge- means both sexes. Traditionally the word it makes is plural, and these plurals are everyday words:

• Miaj gepatroj loĝas en Parizo. - My parents live in Paris.
• Karaj gesinjoroj! - Ladies and gentlemen!

Ge- also goes on neutral roots when you want to stress that both sexes are there: gelernantoj, pupils of both sexes. Normally plain lernantoj does the job. PMEG advises against the singular gehomo and geinfano, since homo and infano are neutral already.

The newer use is the singular. PMEG states the tradition, that a ge- word with -o can only be plural, then records an experimental singular meaning any sex that has grown over the last few decades:

• Ĉiu gepatro volas helpi. - Every parent wants to help.

PMEG also names the cost. If ge- can mean any sex, then gepatra decido can mean a decision by one parent rather than by both. Both readings are in use; the plural one is understood by everyone.

The criticism, both ways

The argument is a century old because both sides have a point:

Traditionally li covers a person of unknown sex. PMEG notes that this can be seen as discrimination and offers ŝi aŭ li, tiu or tiu persono instead:

• Se iu volas veni, tiu povas veni. - If anyone wants to come, they can come.

Ri, -iĉ- and the other proposals

Riismo usually means using ri; the word also covers wider reform programmes. None of these forms is official, and some speakers use them every day:

People use ri in three ways: for a person whose sex is unknown, only for non-binary people, or for everyone instead of li and ŝi. PMEG says riismo is sufiĉe disvastiĝinta, precipe inter junuloj, fairly widespread, especially among young people, and that some strongly oppose it as an unacceptable reform.

• Mia amiko diris, ke ri venos. - My friend said that they would come.

-Iĉ- is modelled on -ĉj-, the male pet-name suffix, just as -in- pairs with -nj-. Its main use is on neutral roots, where it does the job of vir-: kuracistiĉo, a male doctor; boviĉo, a bull. PMEG calls it by far the most popular proposal of its kind, though most speakers still use vira or vir-. Some go further and put it on the male roots too, so that patro would mean parent and patriĉo father. PMEG calls that a real reform of common, deep-rooted words, and so hard to achieve.

What the Akademio said

In March 2021 the Akademio de Esperanto published this declaration:

La Akademio de Esperanto deklaras, ke ĝi nun ne alprenas starpunkton pri la uzindeco de ne-oficialaj seks-neŭtralaj pronomoj (kiel ekzemple ri aŭ ŝli), kaj decidis ne okupiĝi pri tiu temo dum almenaŭ dek jaroj.

The Akademio de Esperanto declares that it does not at present take a position on the usability of unofficial sex-neutral pronouns (such as ri or ŝli), and has decided not to take up the subject for at least ten years.

That is neither approval nor a ban. It is how the language usually changes: usage first, ratification afterwards, if at all. The Fundamento and Akademio article explains why.

What to write today

1. Use -in- where tradition puts it: patrino, fratino, reĝino.
2. Use ge- for a mixed group: gepatroj, gefratoj, gesinjoroj.
3. Leave profession nouns bare unless sex is your point: Ŝi estas kuracisto.
4. Reach for homo and persono when sex is beside the point.
5. Recognise ri and -iĉ-, and use the pronoun a person asks you to use.

Words about sexuality

Ordinary dictionary words, given here once because learner material rarely does:

Both families are in everyday use: gejo and geja are short and informal, and samseksema is the plain descriptive word.

Mistakes English speakers make

What to do next

1. Write five family words with -in- and five with ge-.
2. Describe three people by profession with no -in-.
3. Then read affixes for size and people for -ist-, -ul- and -an-.

See also

• Who decides what is correct Esperanto? - the Fundamento, the Akademio and the 2021 decision.
• Affixes for size and people - -ist-, -ul- and -an-, the person-building suffixes.
• Word building - the affix system -in- and ge- belong to.
• Affixes as words in their own right - why ino is a noun and ge- a prefix.
• Nouns and adjectives - the agreement system with no gender in it.
• Personal pronouns - li, ŝi and ĝi.
• Personal names - -ĉj- and -nj-, the other pair of sexed suffixes.