hen is Swedish's gender-neutral third-person singular pronoun — the counterpart to han ("he") and hon ("she") for situations where you don't want, or don't need, to specify gender. For an English speaker the closest analogue is singular "they," but there is a crucial difference: where English singular "they" is still argued over by style guides and prescriptivists, hen is settled. It sits in the official word list, in the language council's recommendations, and in the style guides of major newspapers and government agencies. As a learner you can use it without hesitation. This page explains its two uses, its forms, and where it sits in the register landscape.
What hen is for: two distinct uses
hen covers two related but separable jobs. Keeping them apart helps you understand why the word exists and why it caught on.
1. When gender is unknown or irrelevant
This is the everyday, grammatical use. When you refer to a person whose gender you don't know, or whose gender simply doesn't matter to the point you're making, hen lets you avoid the clumsy han eller hon ("he or she") and the awkward repetition that comes with it.
Om någon ringer, säg åt hen att vänta.
If someone calls, tell them to wait. The caller's gender is unknown, so hen is the natural choice.
En bra läkare lyssnar på sina patienter, vad hen än tycker.
A good doctor listens to their patients, whatever they may think. The doctor is a generic, gender-unspecified individual.
Den som hittar plånboken får gärna lämna in hen på receptionen — förlåt, lämna in den!
Whoever finds the wallet is welcome to hand it in at reception. (A joke: hen is for people, not objects — the wallet takes den.)
Before hen became available, writers had three poor options: pick a default gender (usually han, which excludes everyone else), write the heavy han eller hon every time, or rephrase into the plural. hen simply solves the problem.
2. For non-binary people
The second use is referential: hen is the pronoun for people who are non-binary, or who otherwise prefer not to be referred to as han or hon. Used this way it points to a specific, known individual — exactly as han or hon would — just without assigning binary gender.
Alex är min granne. Hen flyttade hit förra året.
Alex is my neighbour. They moved here last year. Here hen refers to a specific person who uses hen.
Jag frågade Kim vilket pronomen hen vill att jag använder.
I asked Kim which pronoun they want me to use. hen as a personal, chosen pronoun.
The forms of hen
hen is grammatically simple — far simpler than its English equivalent, which borrows the whole plural they/them/their apparatus.
| Role | Form | English |
|---|---|---|
| Subject | hen | they (sg.) / he-or-she |
| Object | hen | them (sg.) / him-or-her |
| Possessive | hens | their (sg.) / his-or-her |
The subject and object forms are identical — hen both does the acting and receives it — which is exactly the pattern of den and det. The possessive adds -s: hens.
Jag ser hen varje morgon vid busshållplatsen.
I see them every morning at the bus stop. Object hen = same as the subject form.
Är det här hens jacka?
Is this their jacket? hens = the possessive, formed with -s.
Läraren hittade hens bok i klassrummet.
The teacher found their (the student's) book in the classroom. hens points to a possessor who is NOT the subject — like hans/hennes.
Note that for "their own," the reflexive possessive sin/sitt/sina still applies in the normal way when the possessor is the clause subject — Hen tog sin jacka ("They took their own jacket"). hen slots into the existing pronoun grammar without inventing new rules.
Acceptance: from coinage to the dictionary
hen did not appear overnight, and knowing its trajectory helps you gauge its register. The word was proposed as early as the 1960s, surfaced occasionally over the following decades, and entered wide public debate around 2012. The decisive moment came in 2015, when hen was added to SAOL (Svenska Akademiens ordlista, the official word list of the Swedish Academy) — the closest thing Swedish has to an authoritative dictionary stamp. Språkrådet, the official language council, also recognizes it. Today hen appears in legislation drafting guidance, university style guides, and the editorial standards of major media.
In practical terms this means hen is standard, neutral register — neither slangy nor activist-coded by default. It is appropriate in formal writing, academic prose, journalism, and everyday speech alike. You may still occasionally meet older speakers who find it unfamiliar or who debate its stylistic merits, but that is a question of taste, not of correctness: grammatically and lexically, hen is established.
hen supplements han and hon — it does not replace them
A common misunderstanding is that hen is meant to push out han and hon. It is not. When you know a person's gender and they use han or hon, you keep using han or hon. hen simply fills the gaps the binary pair leaves: the unknown, the generic, and the non-binary. The three pronouns coexist.
Min bror sa att han kommer; min syster vet inte om hon hinner.
My brother said he's coming; my sister isn't sure she'll make it. Known genders → han and hon, as normal — hen isn't forced in.
English contrast: why hen is easier than singular "they"
For an English speaker, two transfer errors are worth heading off. First, do not assume Swedish uses a generic han the way older English used generic "he" ("a good doctor listens to his patients"). That convention is dated in both languages, and Swedish has a purpose-built alternative — hen — so reaching for generic han sounds both excluding and slightly old-fashioned. Second, do not assume hen is fringe, slangy, or unaccepted. English singular "they" still draws objections from some prescriptivists; hen cleared that bar a decade ago with an official dictionary listing. The upshot is reassuring: hen is, if anything, less contested than English singular "they", so you can deploy it with more confidence than you might in your native language.
Varje deltagare ska ta med hen sitt eget ID. — bättre: Varje deltagare ska ta med sig sitt eget ID.
Each participant should bring their own ID. (A note: with a reflexive 'own', sig + sin is smoother than forcing hen — hen shines as a referring pronoun, not always as a reflexive.)
Common Mistakes
❌ En bra chef lyssnar på sina anställda, vad han än tycker. (intending a generic boss)
Outdated/excluding — using generic han for an unspecified person. Swedish has hen for exactly this.
✅ En bra chef lyssnar på sina anställda, vad hen än tycker.
A good boss listens to their employees, whatever they may think.
❌ Är det här hen jacka? (for 'their jacket')
Incorrect — the possessive needs -s: hens jacka.
✅ Är det här hens jacka?
Is this their jacket?
❌ Jag ser hens varje morgon. (for 'I see them')
Incorrect — the object form is plain hen, not hens (hens is the possessive).
✅ Jag ser hen varje morgon.
I see them every morning.
❌ Min bror sa att hen kommer. (when the brother uses han)
Unnatural — when gender is known and the person uses han/hon, use that; hen doesn't replace them.
✅ Min bror sa att han kommer.
My brother said he's coming.
❌ Treating hen as slang or non-standard in formal writing
Mistaken — hen has been in SAOL since 2015 and is standard, neutral register, fine in formal text.
✅ Patienten ombeds ta med hens journal till besöket.
The patient is asked to bring their medical records to the appointment. (formal, fully standard)
Key Takeaways
- hen is the gender-neutral third-person singular: used (1) when gender is unknown or irrelevant, and (2) for non-binary people.
- Forms are minimal: subject hen, object hen (identical), possessive hens.
- It is standard, neutral register — added to SAOL in 2015, recognized by Språkrådet, used in journalism and official writing.
- It supplements han and hon; it does not replace them. Use han/hon when gender is known and the person uses them.
- For English speakers: don't fall back on generic han (dated/excluding), and don't treat hen as fringe — it's less contested than English singular "they."
- Orthography: hen / hen / hens — note the possessive simply adds -s.
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Start learning Swedish→Related Topics
- Subject PronounsA1 — The Swedish subject personal pronouns — jag, du, han, hon, hen, den, det, man, vi, ni, de — including that de is pronounced (and often spelled) 'dom', that hen is the standard gender-neutral pronoun, and that den/det are the inanimate 'it' chosen by gender. Because Swedish verbs don't conjugate, the pronoun carries all the person information.
- The Generic Pronoun manA2 — man is Swedish's everyday word for an unspecified 'you / one / people / they' — Man måste vara försiktig ('You have to be careful'). It takes a singular verb, has the object form en and the possessive ens, and is completely casual, unlike the stiff English 'one'. Don't reach for the passive or 'people' when a Swede would simply say man.
- Inclusive and Gender-Neutral LanguageB2 — Modern Swedish has actively de-gendered itself, and the changes are now official norm rather than fashion. The pronoun hen serves as a gender-neutral 'he/she' and a generic 'one'; the old feminine job suffixes -inna and -ska (lärarinna, författarinna, sjukska) are now dated, and the base form (en lärare, en författare, en skådespelare) covers all genders. This page teaches the inclusive standard a learner should actually use — and the dated forms to recognise but avoid.