Answers
Apr 10, 2013 - 08:26 PM
Jon, no one can answer that except to say ... that's just the way it's always been, the way it is, and the way it'll always be ... and I suspect we can blame Latin for that. Think Italian is confusing? Try taking German, where they also have a neutral gender and where the singular masculine article, when pluralized, becomes feminine. Be thankful you're studying Italian.
I will say this: genderizing and pluralizing articles and nouns makes you appreciate English.
I will say this: genderizing and pluralizing articles and nouns makes you appreciate English.
Apr 11, 2013 - 01:13 AM
It really is the way it is...all latin-based languages like Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian have genders. Like Dennis said, German has genders..I also believe Russian incorporates them also. I hear that many of the Asia-based languages don't have gender nouns but may have other nuances but I can't say for sure.
Apr 11, 2013 - 07:14 AM
It certainly can be frustrating to an English speaker, especially those words that go opposite to what you might expect (such as "dress" being masculine but "tie" being feminine). As others have stated, it just is.
Apr 11, 2013 - 07:40 PM
If it helps, after awhile, you pretty much stop thinking about it. Nouns ending in "o" are masculine, those ending in "a" are feminine -- and exceptions tend to be a short form, like "metro: for "metropolitana."
Those ending in "e" you just have to learn, but you generally learn them with the article, ("il latte"), so with practice, it ceases to be a problem.
Reflexive verbs, on the other hand ... :-)
Those ending in "e" you just have to learn, but you generally learn them with the article, ("il latte"), so with practice, it ceases to be a problem.
Reflexive verbs, on the other hand ... :-)