This website offers suggestions on how to use the Spanish language in a more inclusive way and provides suggestions for how to use gender-neutral forms. Our purpose in providing these options is not to dictate rules or determine how people should identify themselves, but rather to enable students and instructors of Spanish to express their identities through more inclusive language, even though such a system does not yet exist in the standard language.
The non-binary language system adopted here only applies to people, not to inanimate objects or animals. The masculine/feminine forms for objects and animals remain the same. For example, the sentence “Esta es nuestra casa.” does not change. In addition, words used to refer to people that do not mark gender also remain the same, such as “Yo estoy triste.” “Mis estudiantes son inteligentes.”, “Tú le diste el regalo”.
Since there is no accepted standard yet, different speakers may choose to use different gender-neutral forms (See https://nonbinary.wiki/wiki/Gender_neutral_language_in_Spanish) and these forms may continue to evolve over time, but the suggested endings in the following table are based on the neutral -e ending. For further details on neutral forms, see Rocío Gómez´s ¨Pequeño manifiesto sobre el género neutro en castellano¨ (2016) https://linguaultrafinitio.files.wordpress.com/2016/04/pequec3b1o-manifiesto-sobre-el-gc3a9nero-neutro-en-castellano.pdf.
The use of non-binary forms takes time and practice, especially for people who are accustomed to using the binary system, such as native-speakers, teachers and advanced language learners of Spanish. Mistakes will certainly be made, so it is important that students and teachers be understanding and help each other in what is a process of learning for all of us.
Resumen de formas gramaticales masculinas, femininas y neutras
| Masculino | Feminino | Neutro | |
|---|---|---|---|
| I. PRONOMBRES PERSONALES (PERSONAL PRONOUNS) | |||
| Pronombres de sujeto (Subject pronouns) | él ellos nosotros vosotros | ella ellas nosotras vosotras | elle elles nosotres vosotres |
| Pronombres de objeto directo en 3ª persona (3rd person directo object pronouns) | lo | la | le |
| II. DETERMINANTES (DETERMINERS) | |||
| Artículos definidos (Definite articles) | el, los | la, las | le, les |
| Artículos indefinidos (Indefinite articles) | un, unos | una, unas | une, unes |
| Posesivos átonos (Unstressed possessives) | nuestro, nuestros vuestro, vuestros | nuestra, nuestras vuestra, vuestras | nuestre, nuestres vuestre, vuestres |
| Posesivos tónicos (Stressed possessives) | mío, míos tuyo, tuyos suyo, suyos nuestro, nuestros vuestro, vuestros | mía, mías tuya, tuyas suya, suyas nuestra, nuestras vuestra, vuestras | míe, míes tuye, tuyes suye, suyes nuestre, nuestres vuestre, vuestres |
| Demostrativos (Demonstratives) | este, estos ese, esos aquel, aquellos | esta, estas esa, esas aquella, aquellas | este, estes ese, eses aquelle, aquelles |
| III. FLEXIONES DE GÊNERO (GENDER ENDINGS) | |||
| Sustantivos y adjetivos terminados en -o y -a (Nouns & adjectives ending in -o and -a) *Note spelling change | niño, niños alto, altos chico, chicos amigo, amigos médico, médicos | niña, niñas alta, altas chica, chicas amiga, amigas médica, médicas | niñe, niñes alte, altes chique, chiques amigue, amigues* médique, médiques* |
| Sustantivos y adjetivos terminados en consonante (Nouns & adjectives ending in consonante) | profesor, profesores español, españoles | profesora, profesoras española, españolas | profesore, profesores españole, españoles |