I know, I know. It’s complicated, and maybe impossible. A lot needs to change to make this easy, and I’m certainly in no position to revolutionize the French language.

I need to add French pronouns to my email signature. I don’t necessarily need to use them, but ideally I could explain to someone how to use them in a sentence.

“Iel” isn’t perfect, but it’s the most popular right now. That’s good enough for me.

I’m confused about the rest. Can anyone give me guidance on the most popular Iel equivalent of [il/le/lui] and [elle/la/elle]?

Is there a good website where I can see the pronouns in use, that isn’t a style guide about pronouns?

Thanks for stopping by :)

  • alex [they, il]@jlai.lu
    2·
    1 year ago

    And yes, non-binary options in English are underwhelming to say the least, which is why I use il and not a neutral alternative :(

    • krimsonbun@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      4·
      1 year ago

      English is pretty good when it comes to nonbinary/gender neutral language compared to French, right? I mean neopronouns aren’t that unheard of and we still have They/them being grammatically accepted

      • alex [they, il]@jlai.luEnglish
        3·
        1 year ago

        Yep, and your grammar is largely ungendered. Our nouns and adjectives almost all are, so it’s really hard to avoid gendering people too.

        • krimsonbun@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
          3·
          1 year ago

          Spanish has the same problem. Even if a word is gender neutral (e.g. president) you still have to use a gendered pronoun for it. And some politicians are even trying to mske that word, one of the few that are not gendered, be gendered.