Subject
sie
Object
hir
Possessive
hir
Possessive (alone)
hirs
Reflexive
hirself
Said like: see / heer / heer / heerz / heer-SELF
Sie is the subject, pronounced see; hir is the object and the possessive determiner, pronounced like here; hirs is the standalone possessive; hirself is the reflexive. The shape is she/her with both words replaced, and hir is deliberately a blend of him, his and her, so it lands somewhere between them in the mouth.
Hir is shared with the older ze/hir set, which is the one Kate Bornstein used in print. Sie/hir is the same second half with a different first word, and it turns up in early-1990s fandom and gender-studies writing. It is rarer today than ze/zir but people still use it, and the grammar is easy once you have heard it.
In a sentence
Sie is the new starter, so show hir where the kettle lives.
Hir badge is on the desk, and the laptop next to it is hirs.
Sie set up the account hirself before anyone asked.
How to use them
- Sie takes the singular verb: "sie is", "sie has", "sie was".
- Hir is both the object and the possessive determiner, like her: "I met hir", "hir coat". Hirs is the standalone possessive: "the coat is hirs".
- Say sie like see, and hir like here. Said quickly, hir can sound like her, which is often the point; if it matters, say the name and repeat.
- Sie is also the German for she and they, and English speakers who know German sometimes say it as zee. For this set it is see. Ask if unsure.
- Sie/hir and ze/hir share the second half. If someone says only "hir", ask whether the first word is sie or ze rather than guessing.
Ways to practise
- Row it aloud: sie, hir, hir, hirs, hirself. The subject word is the only new sound; the rest is her with an i.
- Write two sentences that use hir in both jobs: "I gave hir hir bag." It repeats the way her repeats. Say it until the repetition stops sounding odd.
- Say sie at the start of a sentence with a verb ten times: "Sie is", "Sie went", "Sie does". That is the sound most people have never made in English.
Where it came from
The origin isn't reliably recorded. Wiktionary's earliest quotations for sie as a pronoun are from 1993, in fandom and gender-studies writing, and it gives no coiner; Wikipedia's table lists sie/hir with a 2001 thesis as its example rather than a source of origin. Hir itself is a blend of him/his and her, in use in genderqueer communities since at least the 1980s according to Wiktionary, and appears in print in Kate Bornstein's 1990s books paired with ze.
Questions people ask
Is hir pronounced like her or like here?
Here, according to Wiktionary, which lists it as a homophone of hear. In fast speech it drifts towards her, and some users say it that way on purpose. Ask the person; the spelling was chosen to sit between him and her, and the sound often does too.
What is the difference between sie/hir and ze/hir?
Only the first word. Both continue with hir, hir, hirs, hirself. Ze/hir is the older and better-known pair in print; sie/hir appears from the early 1990s in fandom. Someone whose bio says "hir" has told you half of it, so ask which subject word goes with it.