Finland’s “hän”: A Small Word with Big Inclusivity Power
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When I first came across the Finnish word hän, I felt a simple spark of hope. A word that doesn’t ask “are you he or she?”, but simply says “you are you”. In a world where so many languages force us to choose between “he” and “she”, Finland quietly offers a different path. And for the LGBTQ+ community, and for all of us who believe language matters, that path is worth walking.
Why pronouns matter — and why they hurt when they exclude
We live in an era when pronouns are no longer a footnote. They’re front and centre. They say: this is how I am seen, how I want to be seen. When someone says “he” or “she” and you don’t fit into that box, you feel the friction. The language doesn’t match the person. The mis-match hurts. And beyond individual hurt, it signals something larger: that our societies still depend on binaries. Inclusive language isn’t just polite — it’s about belonging.
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Enter Hän – Finland’s inclusive pronoun
In Finnish, the word hän is the third-person singular pronoun for humans — and it doesn’t specify gender. It can mean “he”, it can mean “she”, it simply means “they” (singular) in the sense of “that person”. The absence of a gender distinction in this pronoun means that from the very grammar of the language, one doesn’t have to ask “boy or girl?” or guess someone’s (or everyone’s) gender. That in itself is radical.
“Hän has been part of the Finnish language since its earliest forms. It even appears in Abckiria (“The ABC Book”), the first printed book in Finnish, published in 1543. When Finnish became an official language in 1863, a standardized written form was developed. Before that, Swedish and Russian dominated among the upper classes. As the language evolved, hän was defined as a word referring specifically to people—regardless of gender—whereas earlier, it could also be used for animals.”
What’s more, Finland has recognised the symbolic power of hän. In 2019, the campaign “Hän” sought to introduce the concept internationally — positioning the word as a symbol of equality, a way to provoke conversation about how language can reflect inclusion. Read more about the campaign here.
Why this matters for the LGBTQ+ community
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For queer and trans folks, pronouns are daily markers of recognition — and mis-recognition. When language forces you into the wrong category, you feel invisible or worse. A pronoun like hän says: we don’t need to know your gender to respect your humanity. It centres the person, not the classification.
Language shapes thought. If your language asks you to decide between he/she every time you refer to someone, you start reinforcing those boxes. A language that gives you one word for all genders undermines the assumption that gender must be defined first. For LGBTQ+ visibility, this is a powerful tool.
But words are not magic—context counts
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Of course, introducing hän doesn’t instantly eliminate discrimination or fully solve gendered power dynamics. Even in Finnish, there are still gender-biased expressions and cultural assumptions. The pronoun is a symbol, a platform, not a cure-all. But it offers something crucial: a way to talk about people without pre-assigning gender. That matters.
What the rest of us can learn
If we view hän as a challenge rather than just a neat linguistic fact, we begin to ask: what pronouns do we take for granted? Do we assume someone is “he” or “she”? Do our languages force choices that don’t fit? Maybe the lesson is that inclusion starts with how we speak.
“When a speaker of Finnish calls someone hän, it doesn’t matter which gender or social status the person represents.”
For digital platforms, for media, for us in the queer storytelling sphere like Queerland Media — making a visible, conscious decision to respect pronouns, to normalise inclusive language, isn’t a trend. It’s responsibility. Recognising pronouns is recognising people. And recognising people is the foundation of belonging.
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So yes — it may be one small word: hän. But its potential is huge. A small change in language can ripple out into how we think, how we treat each other, how we include each other. In Finland, the pronoun is already part of daily language. For the world, it’s a reminder that when we change our words, we change our world. Let’s bring hän into our conversation. And let’s build a world where no one has to ask “which box do I fit into?” because there simply is no box.
