German

Pronoun

Sie

1. you (polite; singular and plural)

   Was möchten Sie, Frau Wagner?‎

   What would you like to have, Mrs. Wagner?

Usage notes

• The German Sie expresses distance in the relation between two persons. It is not perfectly correct to say that it expresses respect; gods and saints have always been addressed as du, as have been parents (except formerly among the upper class). Even royal highnesses used to be addressed as du, not personally but in songs and poems.
• Sie is identical in form to the third person plural pronoun sie ‎(“they”) and takes the same verb form. The "polite" Sie is distinguished in writing by capitalization. When addressing a person with Sie, one generally needs to replace the third person plural pronoun with the demonstrative die to avoid confusion: Wissen Sie, was die zu mir gesagt haben? − “Do you know what they said to me?”

Inflection

¹Often capitalized, especially in letters

The genitive case Ihrer is more and more rarely used in modern German.

• The genitive case Ihrer does not express ownership, so it must not be mixed up with the possessive pronoun Ihr, which is declined by gender, singular/plural and case.

Derived terms

• siezen

English

Alternative forms

• sigh
• sey, sye (Scotland)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /saɪ/
• Rhymes: -aɪ

Verb

sie ‎(third-person singular simple present sies, present participle sying, simple past and past participle sied)

1. (intransitive) To sink; fall; drop.
2. (intransitive) To fall, as in a swoon; faint.
3. (intransitive, dialectal) To drop, as water; trickle.
4. (transitive) To sift.
5. (transitive, dialectal) To strain, as milk; filter.

Noun

sie ‎(plural sies)

1. A drop.

Related terms

• sile

Etymology 2

Alternative forms

• shi

Pronunciation

• Homophones: c, cee, sea, see

Pronoun

sie ‎(third person singular, gender-neutral, nominative case, accusative sir, possessive adjective hir, possessive noun hirs, reflexive hirself)

1. (neologism) Gender-neutral (or multigendered) subject pronoun, grammatically equivalent to the gendered pronouns he and she, or singular they
   • 1993 September 24, Alex Martelli, "punishment vs ethics (was Re: Discipline my daughters)", in alt.sex.bondage, Usenet:

     If the child is about the intellectual equal of the parent, sie will eventually start holding hir own in discussions, […]

   • 2010 September 16, Jessica Freely, Amaranth and Ash, La Vergne: Lightning Source, ISBN 9781461136620, page 101:

     "You must be Ash," sie said, hir voice a shade deeper than Amaranth's.

   • 2011 May 19, Ken Wickham, The Other Genders: Androgyne, Genderqueer, Non-Binary Gender Variant, CreateSpace, ISBN 9781461136620, page 7:

     Sie may feel that hir actual identity of hir gender is supposed to be both/neither male or female, outside of gender, third gender, beyond gender, absence of gender, mixing gender, changing gender, or all genders.

   • 2011 August 16, Petra Kuppers, Disability Culture and Community Performance: Find a Strange and Twisted Shape, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN 9780230298279, LCCN 2011012058, LCC PN1590.H36 K87 2011, page 18:

     When I asked hir about hir preferred self-identification in this scene, sie offered me this language, 'sie sharply performs the hotness of teasing all the audience from the edge-space of androgyny.'

Synonyms

• (gender-neutral): he or she, he/she, s/he, (s)he
• (gender-neutral): (singular) they
• (gender-neutral): (neologism) e, ey, shi, ze, per

Anagrams

• I'se

See also

• other attested and proposed gender-neutral pronouns

Chibcha

Noun

sie

1. water

References

• Comparative Chibchan Phonology (1981)

Finnish

Pronoun

sie (stem siu-)

1. (personal, dialectal, including Kven) you (singular; in archaic English: thou).

Synonyms

• sinä (standard Finnish)
• sä (colloquial)
• sää (dialectal)

Anagrams

• ies, sei

German

Pronunciation

• (standard) IPA^(key): /ziː/

• Rhymes: -iː

• (colloquially in unstressed position) IPA^(key): /zə/

Etymology 1

From Old High German siu; cognate with Gothic 𐍃𐌹 ‎(si) and Old English sēo ‎(“that one (f.)”).

Pronoun

sie f

1. she
2. it (when the object/article/thing/animal etc., referred to, is feminine (die))

Inflection

¹Often capitalized, especially in letters

• The genitive case ihrer is more and more rarely used in modern German.
• While the genitive of personal pronouns does express ownership, it must not be confused with possessive pronouns. While possessive pronouns such as ihr are put in front of the noun they relate to and follow the inflection rules of adjectives, the genitive form of personal pronouns has only one form, which is not further inflected. Additionally, personal pronouns in the genitive can be put after the word they relate to.

Etymology 2

From Old High German sie (masculine plural), sio (feminine plural), siu (neuter plural).

Pronoun

sie pl

1. they; them

Inflection

¹Often capitalized, especially in letters

Usage notes

• In the colloquial speech of some areas, this pronoun is used only enclitically after a verb, as an ending /zə/. E.g. hamse, könnse. Stressed instances are replaced with the demonstrative pronoun die. This reflects a similar development for es/das.
• While the genitive of personal pronouns does express ownership, it must not be confused with possessive pronouns. While possessive pronouns such as ihr are put in front of the noun they relate to and follow the inflection rules of adjectives, the genitive form of a personal pronoun has only one form, which is not further inflected. Additionally, personal pronouns in the genitive can be put after the word they relate to.

Anagrams

• Eis

Hunsrik

Alternative forms

• sii (Portuguese based orthography)

Etymology 1

From Old High German siu; cognate with Gothic 𐍃𐌹 ‎(si) and Old English sēo ‎(“that one (f.)”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /siː/

Pronoun

sie

1. she

Inflection

Etymology 2

From Old High German sie (masculine plural), sio (feminine plural), siu (neuter plural).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /siː/

Pronoun

sie

1. they

Inflection

Karelian

Pronoun

sie

(Stem: si-)

1. (personal) you (singular)

Synonyms

• sinä

Middle Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /siə/, /si/

Pronoun

sie

1. Alternative form of si (both feminine singular and all plural)

Middle Low German

Pronunciation

• Stem vowel: ê⁴
  • IPA^(key): /siə/, /siɛ/

Pronoun

sie

1. Alternative form of sê.

Old Saxon

Alternative forms

• sia

Pronoun

sie m, f

1. she (accusative)
2. they

Descendants

• Low German: se

Declension