5 ms·
The problem isn't the extra grammar rules, the problem is having to learn the gender of every single word in order to use the language correctly.
by aninhumer 10y ago
The problem isn't the extra grammar rules, the problem is having to learn the gender of every single word in order to use the language correctly.
- wolfgke 10y agoUsually you get a pretty good feeling for the rules that determine the gender for many nouns (at least for me in Spanish, French and Portuguese), so that for many nouns this will only be a problem at the beginning. For example (I will use examples from German, since this is my native language) typical rules (probably you will find exceptions) are that nouns that end in "-chen" or "-lein" (endings for diminutive, though this is not always obvious (for example "das Mädchen" is a diminutive of "die Maid")) are neuter. Or nouns that end in "-e" are feminine. Or nouns that end in "-er" are masculine (at least if they mean "a person/object doing something" (counterexample: "das Wunder" (the wonder) - but this is not a person/object doing something) - the same holds for verbs ending in "-erin" being female. Or if you turn a verb into a noun ("das Wandern" from "wandern" - to wander) it will be neuter. Of course there will be enough nouns for which you simply will have to learn the gender, but I don't believe it is that amount of effort (and most other languages have a much more regular pronounciation than English).
- douche 10y agoQuite obviously, it is a PITA, which is why English dropped using gendered nouns in the first place - originally Old English had gender, but over the course of the middle ages virtually all traces of it disappeared, simplifying the language.
- _nalply 10y agoWhen memorizing words, memorize the article, too: «die Blume», «le soleil». Never omit the article. Then it's easy.