Masculine and feminine nouns in french, spanish, etc. Why?

goldstone · Jul 31, 2014

Has anyone any idea why these stupid foreign languages have masculine and feminine nouns? It's difficult enough remembering the foreign word without ALSO having to remember whether it's "le" or "la". And why the hell is a table feminine and a garden masculine (in french)? Who dreamed this up?

And:
- when a new word is added to the french language who decides whether it will be masculine of feminine? A committee of french bureaucrats?
- is a word that is masculine in french also always masculine in spanish?

I know English isn't perfect, but at least we don't have to deal with this inexplicable abomination.

That is the end of today's rant.

carteater · Jul 31, 2014

I bet a french person has said on a Ligue 2 team forum:

"pourquoi anglais ont juste les noms neutres, comment puis-je savoir si quelque chose est écrit par un homme ou une femme,
L'anglais est une langue vivante, car ils volent d'autres langues, par exemple, le café est notre mot pas la leur, l'anglais est une abomination d'une langue, car il n'a pas de bureau du gouvernement à contrôler, donc les choses comme le slogan de Homer Simpson: D'oh est dans leur dictionnaire! Aussi comment est gh un son de f? par exemple leurs mots pour la toux et difficile

??!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?"

Badger · Jul 31, 2014

goldstone said:
Has anyone any idea why these stupid foreign languages have masculine and feminine nouns? It's difficult enough remembering the foreign word without ALSO having to remember whether it's "le" or "la". And why the hell is a table feminine and a garden masculine (in french)? Who dreamed this up?

A table is where a woman serves dinner.
A garden is where a man has his shed.

Prince Monolulu · Jul 31, 2014

Tom Hark Preston Park · Jul 31, 2014

goldstone said:
I know English isn't perfect, but at least we don't have to deal with this inexplicable abomination.

English has it's own inexplicable abominations though. If English isn't your first language, how on earth do you learn to pronounce, say, 'bough' or 'cough' or 'tough' other than learning the words individually?

Don Quixote · Jul 31, 2014

Some languages have three, four or even five genders. English has some too but most have gone.

Prince Monolulu · Jul 31, 2014

Wouldn't want to have to get to grips with things like this:

James, while John had had "had", had had "had had"; "had had" had had a better effect on the teacher.

Surrey_Albion · Jul 31, 2014

Its all Greek to me, the entire world should speak only latin and dress the same too

Dr Q · Jul 31, 2014

Speak slowly in English, point and make hand signals/gestures. No need to worry about all these other issues

(have to admit, languages are not my strongest point .. including English at times!!)

GOM · Jul 31, 2014

goldstone said:
Has anyone any idea why these stupid foreign languages have masculine and feminine nouns? It's difficult enough remembering the foreign word without ALSO having to remember whether it's "le" or "la". And why the hell is a table feminine and a garden masculine (in french)? Who dreamed this up?

When I first started learning French as a nipper, I always used as a rule of thumb (not perfect by any means !), that if the noun ended in a 'e' it was feminine so la.

Barrel of Fun · Jul 31, 2014

Stork, walk, hawk. Who would have thought they had a common sound?

Goldstone, I'm amazed you have survived in the aviation industry for so long, considering your contempt for all things foreign.

Braggfan · Jul 31, 2014

Apparently Sussex dialect has a lot of words that are believed to have been derived from Sussex fishermen and their interactions with the French and Dutch. As a result Sussex dialect is almost always in the feminine tense and led to the amazing saying, "Everything in Sussex is a she except for a Tomcat and even he's a she."

Harry H · Jul 31, 2014

Usually in Spanish bad or nasty things are feminine.
La guerra-the war
Una lucha-a fight
Una paliza-a beating
La venganza-revenge
Una bomba-A bomb

I can live with that.

Daffy Duck · Jul 31, 2014

Also in Spanish, beer is feminine, dress is masculine. Work that one out,

Prince Monolulu · Jul 31, 2014

Even though I'm a geezer, je suis une personne

Gwylan · Jul 31, 2014

goldstone said:
Has anyone any idea why these stupid foreign languages have masculine and feminine nouns? It's difficult enough remembering the foreign word without ALSO having to remember whether it's "le" or "la". And why the hell is a table feminine and a garden masculine (in french)? Who dreamed this up?

And:
- when a new word is added to the french language who decides whether it will be masculine of feminine? A committee of french bureaucrats?
- is a word that is masculine in french also always masculine in spanish?

I know English isn't perfect, but at least we don't have to deal with this inexplicable abomination.

That is the end of today's rant.

Surely the question should be "Why doesn't English have genders?" I'm sure there are languages without them, but all the languages I've ever learned (French, German, Italian, Welsh, Russian and Latin) have them). And it's not a question of which case they are; look at German where the meaning of some words changes -why is "steuer" "tax" if it's feminine or "steering wheel" if it's neuter?

Diego Napier · Jul 31, 2014

goldstone said:
Has anyone any idea why these stupid foreign languages have masculine and feminine nouns? It's difficult enough remembering the foreign word without ALSO having to remember whether it's "le" or "la". And why the hell is a table feminine and a garden masculine (in french)? Who dreamed this up?

And:
- when a new word is added to the french language who decides whether it will be masculine of feminine? A committee of french bureaucrats?
- is a word that is masculine in french also always masculine in spanish?

I know English isn't perfect, but at least we don't have to deal with this inexplicable abomination.

That is the end of today's rant.

English is more difficult to learn than French, Spanish, German and most of the other European languages, just think of the complexity involved in forming the past participle of irregular verbs (past participle in all its forms: present perfect, past perfect, future perfect, conditional perfect as well as passive voice).

Of course, all NSC posters naturally have it off pat.

narly101 · Jul 31, 2014

Dr Q said:
Speak slowly in English, point and make hand signals/gestures. No need to worry about all these other issues

(have to admit, languages are not my strongest point .. including English at times!!)

You forgot to make sure that you speak the English in a French/Spanish accent depending on where you are. It makes it easier for them to understand.

Gordon Bennett · Jul 31, 2014

Dr Q said:
Speak slowly in English, point and make hand signals/gestures. No need to worry about all these other issues

(have to admit, languages are not my strongest point .. including English at times!!)

narly101 said:
You forgot to make sure that you speak the English in a French/Spanish accent depending on where you are. It makes it easier for them to understand.

Do we still have to do it all in a raised voice?

Gwylan · Jul 31, 2014

Diego Napier said:
English is more difficult to learn than French, Spanish, German and most of the other European languages, just think of the complexity involved in forming the past participle of irregular verbs (past participle in all its forms: present perfect, past perfect, future perfect, conditional perfect as well as passive voice).

It also has two present tenses (something it shares with Welsh) - try explaining the difference between present simple and present continuous to a roomful of foreign students

Got something to say or just want fewer pesky ads? Join us... 😊

Masculine and feminine nouns in french, spanish, etc. Why?

Well-known member

Well-known member

NOT the Honey Badger

Everything in Moderation

Will Post For Cash

Well-known member

Everything in Moderation

New member

Well-known member

living vicariously

Abort, retry, fail

In the beginning there was nothing, which exploded

Comfortably numb.

Stop bloody moaning!

Everything in Moderation

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Active member

Well-known member

Share this page