# EN: pronoun for institution - Elle (la SNCF)



## Mathilde Dioux

Hello everybody,
I was wondering whether one shall use "it", "she" or "he" when talking of an institution ? like for the SNCF (French trains) for example in the sentence :
"Elle (la SNCF) a connu une faible croissance des fréquentations ces dernières années"
Thanks,
Mathilde


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## bloomiegirl

_It_ is the correct choice for the SNCF and other institutions.


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## JBry

Mathilde Dioux said:


> Hello everybody,
> I was wondering whether one should use "it", "she" or "he" when talking about an institution ? like for the SNCF (French trains) for example in the sentence :
> "Elle (la SNCF) a connu une faible croissance des fréquentations ces dernières années"
> Thanks,
> Mathilde




"It" is correct. In English, "he" and "she" are only used for people.

j


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## SwissPete

You can never go wrong using _he_ for a male, _she _for a female and _it_ for everything else.


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## bloomiegirl

JBry said:


> [...] In English, "he" and "she" are only used for people.


I didn't state it quite so broadly, since there are still some folks who refer to ships as _she_. Knowing that, it occurred to me that there might be some other exceptions that don't come to mind right now.


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## Mathilde Dioux

All right, that makes it clear. Thank you both for your answers !
Mathilde


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## hunternet

JBry said:


> "It" is correct. In English, "he" and "she" are only used for people.
> 
> j



What about ships/boats (I thought it was "she") and pets/animals ? Did the rule change ?


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## Franglais1969

hunternet said:


> What about ships/boats (I thought it was "she") and pets/animals ? Did the rule change ?



Ships are always a she, boats are an it, as far as I am concerned.  Pets can either be gendered or neuter.


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## JBry

yes, i'm sorry; I was generalizing too much. _Some_ people still call ships "she" (I don't, myself), and animals/pets can be either "he"/"she" or "it" (for example, dogs or cats that people are very close to emotionally would usually be "he" or "she")


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## lilatranslator

And a baby is referred to by "It" Poor little creatures


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## BigRedDog

Mathilde Dioux said:


> Hello everybody,
> I was wondering whether one shall use "it", "she" or "he" when talking of an institution ? like for the SNCF (French trains) for example in the sentence :
> "Elle (la SNCF) a connu une faible croissance des fréquentations ces dernières années"
> Thanks,
> Mathilde



Just to add a bit on this one. The only reason we say "she" for SNCF is that *S.N.C.F.* is actually an acronym that means "*S*ociété des *C*hemins de *F*er *F*rançais" and since we say "La Société" ...


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## uptown

pioupiouz said:


> So, unless I get a native no!no!, it will be she.
> Thanks lila


A would give a native no-no for "she" as a reference to a train system, at least from an American perspective. It has no precedent of which I'm aware. And in my head, when I read "il" or "elle", I would think "it" when it references a noun that is not a person or a pet.

Nouns in English are gender-neutral, the exceptions being people, pets and maybe other animals, and a few others. The Catholic Church often will use "she" and "her" (as encouraged by the Vatican). The Episcopal/Anglican Church may do the same, but I'm not sure. Ships are often considered female. 

Most other uses would be "poetic license". And yes other institutions (higher education comes to mind) may (poetically) use "she", but at this point I would consider such usage to be nonstandard.


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## henapen

Interestingly in English (as far as I can tell) 'he' is never used to describe an inanimate object while 'she' is often used for cars/boats/planes/bikes etc.


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## anori

henapen said:


> Interestingly in English (as far as I can tell) 'he' is never used to describe an inanimate object while 'she' is often used for cars/boats/planes/bikes etc.



Its purely tradition.  It would be wrong to use 'she' formally when describing those things.

We use 'she' because objects such as boats/bikes/cars/planes help us in our life, often times a lot.  They support our life really, much like a woman's nurturing.  So any inanimate object that can shelter us, help us, carry us etc., can really be referred to as 'she'.  For example, I refer to my computer as 'she' sometimes.  And again its very informal & casual.


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