Sweden's Pronoun Solution
Many languages have what some consider a significant limitation: they lack a gender-
neutral third-person singular pronoun. When using a pronoun to refer to a person,
speakers must either specify a gender or say something like "he or she." Not only can
this be cumbersome, but it means that there is no good pronoun choice when a person's
gender is unknown to the speaker. Sweden addressed this problem in 2015 by adding a
new pronoun--hen--which refers to a person without specifying a male or female gender.
Hen does not replace the Swedish pronouns han, meaning "he," or hon, meaning "she"; it
simply adds another option. Thus, Swedes now have their choice of three, rather than
two, singular pronouns for referencing individuals.
What is the main idea of the passage?
The lack of a gender-neutral third-person pronoun can make it difficult to
refer to a person whose gender is unknown.
To work around the lack of a gender-neutral pronoun that can refer to a
person, writers may choose to employ phrases such as "he or she."
To address the lack of a gender-neutral pronoun that can refer to a person,
Sweden created a new pronoun, hen, which does not specify gender.