OK so one could do a doctorate on this I guess but I simply want to make a little introduction because German learners may not be familiar with this concept and may get confused when seeing seemingly random little characters in the middle of a word. So here we go.
In German, there are a few ways to use gender-neutral language. I'm going to list some of them with pro and cons.
This is probably the most 'stealthy' way to use gender-neutral language in German. Example:
❌ Die Studenten essen in der Mensa. ✅ Die Studierenden essen in der Mensa.
❌ Die Mitarbeiter sind in einer Besprechung. ✅ Die Mitarbeitenden sind in einer Besprechung.
Pro: Stealth Level 100
Con: Not always applicable; works better with plural forms because articles are not split by gender there
❌ Die Schüler haben heute frei. ✅ Die Schüler*innen haben heute frei.
❌ Köche haben einen anstrengenden Job. ✅ Köch*innen haben einen anstrengenden Job.
What happens here is that you use the feminine form, and insert an asterisk in front of the feminine suffix (between root and suffix). In some cases this makes for a 'perfect' separation of the masculine and the feminine form (Schüler/Schülerinnen -> Schüler*innen); sometimes, as is the case with Köch*innen (Köche/Köchinnen), the masculine plural ending is cut off. Another example is Ärzte/Ärztinnen -> Ärzt*innen.
With singular forms, the use of articles will look like this:
der*die Ärzt*in
ein*e Köch*in
The asterisk is sometimes pronounced as a glottal stop, sometimes it's 'ignored' in spoken language.
Pro: Inclusive; the asterisk marks all other genders outside of the (grammatical) binary.
Con: Can be tricky to use; no general consensus over handling e.g. Dative: einem*einer Ärzt*in vs einem*r Ärzt*in
❌ Chefs sollten generell mehr Lohn zahlen. ✅ Chef_innen sollten generell mehr Lohn zahlen.
Same procedure as above, but with an underscore instead of an asterisk.
The underscore is sometimes pronounced as a glottal stop, sometimes it's 'ignored' in spoken language.
Pro: Relatively inclusive; some people feel like the underscore represents a 'gap' instead of non-binary genders and therefore reject the underscore. (Personally I don't prefer it either.)
Con: Not accepted by all people outside the binary; can be tricky to use; no general consensus over handling certain concepts
❌ Die Rechte von Bauarbeitern sind wichtig. ✅ Die Rechte von Bauarbeiter:innen sind wichtig.
Same procedure as above, but with a colon instead of an asterisk or underscore.
The colon is sometimes pronounced as a glottal stop, sometimes it's 'ignored' in spoken language.
Pro: Inclusive
Con: Can be tricky to use; no general consensus over handling certain concepts
Personally I prefer the colon over the asterisk and the underscore. It's mostly gut feeling but also the colon is like. at the same 'level' visually speaking as your regular minuscules so it makes me feel more included. As I said, gut feeling.
So I guess this depends a bit but basically you replace the 'mann' in compounds with 'mensch', 'person', or, in plural, 'leute' or 'personen'. If that sounds weird, the word might get changed altogether:
❌ man ✅ mensch
❌ jemand ✅ jemensch
❌ Partner (not gender neutral in German!) ✅ Partnerperson, Beziehungsperson; Partner:in (Partner*in, Partner_in)
❌ Kaufmann ✅ Person im kaufmännischen Bereich
❌Müllmann ✅ Müllentsorger:in (Müllentsorger*in, Müllentsorger_in)
Again, this is easier in plural:
❌ Kaufmänner ✅ Kaufleute
❌ Müllmänner ✅ Müllabfuhr
Pro: Inclusive
Con: if you are a German learner, this might be the option that is hardest to use (if you plan on using gender-neutral German), because it is not immediately evident how these generically masculine words get replaced or transformed.
The so-called "Binnen-I" refers to the capitalised letter "I" in the middle of gendered nouns, and it works like the colon version (but without the colon):
SchülerIn, SchülerInnen
LehrerIn, LehrerInnen
often accompanied by articles with a slash: der/die SchülerIn
Pro: relatively easy to use
Con: does not include non-binary genders! This is not truly gender-neutral! It only includes the feminine and the masculine form!
Probably my least favourite thing. Boo. It puts the feminine ending in a little cage:
Schüler(innen)
Mitarbeiter(innen)
Pro: visually very obvious that we are talking about women and men (not only women)
Con: does not include non-binary genders! This is not truly gender-neutral! It only includes the feminine and the masculine form! It has also been criticised for suggesting that the feminine ending is 'optional'/'omittable' by putting it in brackets. Honestly, just don't.
This was a little introduction to gender neutral German and I hope this can explain to you why written German does not always look like the one you see in most textbooks!
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