Which possessive pronoun should follow 'Kind' (female) or 'Mädchen' - feminine or neuter? Das Mädchen hat ihren (oder seinen) Hut verloren?

Question

Older texts would use the appropriate grammatical gender for possessive pronouns, eg,

'Das Weib hat seinen Hut verloren.'

Is this still the best usage, or should we now use the natural gender, ie,

'Das Weib hat ihren Hut verloren'

Still the same, and we have had questions about that. One very recently. — Carsten S, Jul 08 '20 at 22:55
I only find questions in German. https://german.stackexchange.com/questions/27770/nat%c3%bcrliches-vs-grammatikalisches-geschlecht-wechselndes-pronomen — Carsten S, Jul 08 '20 at 23:03
You wouldn't use Weib in contemporary Standard German. It's derogatory. — David Vogt, Jul 09 '20 at 05:05
There is some nuance in this, so assuming that so far we really have discussed this only in German it would be nice if someone wrote an answer in English. My comment was not intended to discourage this. — Carsten S, Jul 09 '20 at 09:19
seinen shouldn't even be odd here, as it's geneticly related to sie. — vectory, Jul 09 '20 at 18:26
Is the appropriate grammatical gender still best usage or should we ... that's clearly opinion based. — Olafant, Jul 09 '20 at 20:09

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 09 '20 at 17:26

2

You'd still say

Das Weib hat seinen Hut verloren

although it's very uncommon today to refer to a women with "Das Weib". You would use "Die Frau" instead.

For "Mädchen",

Das Mädchen hat seinen Hut verloren

would be grammatically correct, although you'll frequently hear

Das Mädchen hat ihren Hut verloren

in colloquial language.

answered Jul 09 '20 at 17:26

Max

2

An example from 19th century literary language (Th. Storm): Da zog das Mädchen ihr* rotes Händchen aus dem Muff, und ihn zu sich ziehend, wies sie mit dem Finger nach dem Vogelbauer.* – David Vogt Jul 09 '20 at 20:08

1 Answers1