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It is doubly so if your native language is also a gendered one, but with different genders for common objects. It makes a mess in your head. CZ: ten nůž (masc.
by inglor_cz 2y ago
It is doubly so if your native language is also a gendered one, but with different genders for common objects. It makes a mess in your head.
CZ: ten nůž (masc.) - DE: das Messer (neutr.) - EN: knife
CZ: ten svět (masc.) - DE: die Welt (fem.) - EN: world
CZ: ta žába (fem.) - DE: der Frosch (masc.) - EN: frog
Also, personified Death and rivers seem to be masculine-coded in Germanic languages, and feminine-coded in Slavic ones.
- Muromec 2y agoTo nobody's surprise ніж, світ, жаба have exactly right genders so it's Germans who are confused.
- inglor_cz 2y agoBut, for some weird reason, modern Bulgarian mutated gender of "evening" to feminine: Тази вечер even though in the greeting "good evening", the old masculine form remains: добър вечер Bulgarian in general seems to be the Chad of the Slavic language family :)
- int_19h 2y agoIt also doesn't help when words in a single language that can refer to the same thing have different grammatical genders (e.g. месяц vs луна).
- inglor_cz 2y agoFor extra spiciness, try the same word in all three genders, with different meanings in each one: DE: der Band ... volume (as in "the second volume in a collection of books") die Band ... group (as in "the Beatles are a group") das Band ... ribbon