hiis

hiis refers to the Estonian word for "he" or "she." It is a gender-neutral personal pronoun used in the third person singular. This contrasts with many other Indo-European languages which have distinct gendered pronouns for the third person singular (e.g., he/she in English, il/elle in French). The use of hiis in Estonian is a notable feature of the language's grammatical structure. Its function is to refer to a person or entity without specifying their gender. This can be useful in situations where gender is unknown, irrelevant, or when aiming for inclusive language. While Estonian traditionally uses hiis, there has been some discussion and occasional use of alternative gendered pronouns, though hiis remains the standard and most common form.