3 ms·
Also, it is weird that Tannenbaum makes a difference between masculine and feminine at all, since in standard Netherlandic Dutch they have since long ago merged
by danieldk 12y ago
Also, it is weird that Tannenbaum makes a difference between masculine and feminine at all, since in standard Netherlandic Dutch they have since long ago merged into the common gender ("de" word).
Yes, but it is still relevant for pronouns:
Dit is een ezel, [hij/zij/het] staat in de wei.
Whether most speakers actually know the correct gender and thus pronoun is another question ;).
- gpvos 12y agoActually, in modern Dutch the actual sex of the animal determines the gender to use, not the grammatical gender. If unknown, use the male form. (This may be different in Flanders.) The difference between "het" and "de" is actually also eroding at the moment.
- danieldk 12y agoActually, in modern Dutch the actual sex of the animal determines the gender to use, not the grammatical gender. If unknown, use the male form. (This may be different in Flanders.) ...if you know the sex of the animal. Also see here (the 'Toelichting'): http://taaladvies.net/taal/advies/vraag/1631/zijn_haar_de_muis_heeft_staart_bezeerd/ http://taaladvies.net/taal/advies/vraag/1631/zijn_haar_de_mu... Of course, these annoyances only exist because the distinction is going away, but hasn't gone completely.
- xiaq 12y agoYes, the masculine/feminine distinction is not completely lost (yet) in modern Dutch. But > Whether most speakers actually know the correct gender and thus pronoun is another question ;). There is no "correct" grammar from a descriptive point of view. When most people don't distinguish masculine nouns from feminine ones any more, linguists tend to say "the m/f distinction is disappearing" instead of "there is a m/f distinction but most people don't know the correct gender".