Why do languages have genders? Impossible to learn!

[OldLady]

In English,there is a pronoun like "he" but also a "she". Then there is "his" and "hers". And so on. Why is this extra complexity? Did girls use to speak a different English from guys? Also, other languages have neutral genders, to increment the gender count to three. Is that because half of the speakers were slaves and eunuchs? What is the big idea for this stupid language grammar gender thing in all Indo European languages?

Well English is sure easier than Spanish, in which all the nouns are either male or female and have to match the proper article.

Spanish is easier. The grammar is more consistent and the
SPELLING------is very easy

Ah, yes, the spelling is MUCH easier. English is a conglomeration of languages and that makes it so capricious. I really, really sucked at learning Spanish, though. Only made it through my college Spanish class by using the movie Like Water for Chocolate for my final presentation. The girl on the horse scene--the prof loved it.

 

[irosie91]

In English,there is a pronoun like "he" but also a "she". Then there is "his" and "hers". And so on. Why is this extra complexity? Did girls use to speak a different English from guys? Also, other languages have neutral genders, to increment the gender count to three. Is that because half of the speakers were slaves and eunuchs? What is the big idea for this stupid language grammar gender thing in all Indo European languages?

Well English is sure easier than Spanish, in which all the nouns are either male or female and have to match the proper article.

Spanish is easier. The grammar is more consistent and the
SPELLING------is very easy

Ah, yes, the spelling is MUCH easier. English is a conglomeration of languages and that makes it so capricious.

your accusation against the HOLY QUEEN's ENGLISH---is
BLASPHEMY

 

[OldLady]

In English,there is a pronoun like "he" but also a "she". Then there is "his" and "hers". And so on. Why is this extra complexity? Did girls use to speak a different English from guys? Also, other languages have neutral genders, to increment the gender count to three. Is that because half of the speakers were slaves and eunuchs? What is the big idea for this stupid language grammar gender thing in all Indo European languages?

Well English is sure easier than Spanish, in which all the nouns are either male or female and have to match the proper article.

Spanish is easier. The grammar is more consistent and the
SPELLING------is very easy

Ah, yes, the spelling is MUCH easier. English is a conglomeration of languages and that makes it so capricious.

your accusation against the HOLY QUEEN's ENGLISH---is
BLASPHEMY

Sure, Rosie. Whatevah

 

[anotherlife]

so they don't have that in other languages?

Only Indo Europeans seem to have this, others don't.

 

[anotherlife]

so they don't have that in other languages?

yes----they do

Not really, unless they are Indo European.

 

[anotherlife]

By the way OP -- what language(s) are you trying to learn?

English, actually. I want to take an English as a foreign language exam. And I always get this he she it damn thing wrong, in all of its formulations, especially when it is a his hers its. A huge road bump in the flow of thoughts.

 

[anotherlife]

In English,there is a pronoun like "he" but also a "she". Then there is "his" and "hers". And so on. Why is this extra complexity? Did girls use to speak a different English from guys? Also, other languages have neutral genders, to increment the gender count to three. Is that because half of the speakers were slaves and eunuchs? What is the big idea for this stupid language grammar gender thing in all Indo European languages?

You don't know how easy you've got it in English. Most other languages have mas. fem. and neu. nouns which decline according to case. Prague, the city in which I live can be Praha, Prahy, Praze, Prazkeho, Prahu and Prazske. Czech has another beauty in which verbs in the past conjugate thusly: Byt (inf.=to be) byl, byla, bylo and I'm not even going to go into plural forms because I get confused.

I learnt German, Russian, and French, before my English experiment here. I am finding that it is much easier to learn the German and French genders, because they are not a reference to the same object, every object has its own gender per its meaning, and it will not change in context. The Russian seems to be the same as your example with the Czech language, plus it coresonates with the ending sound of the noun. But in English, the context changes the gender and it is a huge problem.

 

[irosie91]

so they don't have that in other languages?

yes----they do

Not really, unless they are Indo European.

not entirely true-----lots of languages have gender----but I do
admit----I know no Chinese or Japanese or--SIOUZ

 

[anotherlife]

so they don't have that in other languages?

yes----they do

Not really, unless they are Indo European.

not entirely true-----lots of languages have gender----but I do
admit----I know no Chinese or Japanese or--SIOUZ

For example the Chinese have linguistic genders only in writing, a different written character, not in the spoken mandarin or Cantonese, or other southern dialects.

 

[Pogo]

By the way OP -- what language(s) are you trying to learn?

English, actually. I want to take an English as a foreign language exam. And I always get this he she it damn thing wrong, in all of its formulations, especially when it is a his hers its. A huge road bump in the flow of thoughts.

Oh well it should be easy actually. EVERYTHING is neuter ("it) unless it's a living being with a gender like man/woman or boy/girl or a reference to some person, animal or other life form whose gender is known.

There are occasional forays into poetic feminine pronouns for inanimate objects such as sailing vessels or countries, but those are metaphorical and not strictly correct. So if it's a life form and its gender is known, it's "he/she" or "him/her"*. Otherwise-- "it". And that's it. The article never changes -- it's "the" for definite, "a/an" for indefinite, for everything.

* - actually this is less used once you move away from human life forms. You may discuss for instance male and female plants but you'd rarely ascribe them a gender by referring to it as "she". They're kind of reserved for the animal world.

Short version -- just think of it this way: In English it's ALL about sex.

 

[Pogo]

OP, just curious if it's not too personal -- what is your first language?

 

[anotherlife]

OP, just curious if it's not too personal -- what is your first language?

It's western szekler, a part of the hunnic languages that are spoken here in south eastern France. It is a relative of the other Hunnic languages such as the eastern hunnic of the karpatian region, the Hungarian, the Manshi, the Khanti, some other Siberian languages, the Korean, and the Japanese language. Part of this language group is known as the Finno-Ugric group, which is a subgroup of this north Siberian root group. I have now started learning Japanese and it seems very easy, the language logic is identical to mine, and totally incompatible with the Indo European mumbo jumbo.

 

[Unkotare]

In English,there is a pronoun like "he" but also a "she". Then there is "his" and "hers". And so on. Why is this extra complexity? Did girls use to speak a different English from guys? Also, other languages have neutral genders, to increment the gender count to three. Is that because half of the speakers were slaves and eunuchs? What is the big idea for this stupid language grammar gender thing in all Indo European languages?

English used to be a fully inflected language as well, with gendered nouns much like Spanish, French, Portuguese, and other romance languages have today. Around the 1100s, English changed in this manner and developed the system of limited gender pronouns to take the place of inflection. This is likely due to invasions by the Vikings, whose language also had gender, but in a manner that often conflicted with that of English. The English language has always been fluid and adaptive in this manner, which explains the hodgepodge we have today.

 

[Unkotare]

so they don't have that in other languages?

Not all.

 

[Unkotare]

[...

Fatter o' mact, being a descendant of German....

English is not a descendant of German. Both German and English are descendants of Proto-Germanic.

 

[Unkotare]

In English,there is a pronoun like "he" but also a "she". Then there is "his" and "hers". And so on. Why is this extra complexity? Did girls use to speak a different English from guys? Also, other languages have neutral genders, to increment the gender count to three. Is that because half of the speakers were slaves and eunuchs? What is the big idea for this stupid language grammar gender thing in all Indo European languages?

Well English is sure easier than Spanish, in which all the nouns are either male or female and have to match the proper article.

No language is "easier" or "harder" than another. It is highly relative and based on many factors.

 

[Pogo]

[...

Fatter o' mact, being a descendant of German....

English is not a descendant of German. Both German and English are descendants of Proto-Germanic.

It just fucking kills you that I know this shit, doesn't it poop boi?

You're being reported for editing quotes. Now fuck off.

 

[yiostheoy]

In English,there is a pronoun like "he" but also a "she". Then there is "his" and "hers". And so on. Why is this extra complexity? Did girls use to speak a different English from guys? Also, other languages have neutral genders, to increment the gender count to three. Is that because half of the speakers were slaves and eunuchs? What is the big idea for this stupid language grammar gender thing in all Indo European languages?

The Afro/Semitic languages seem to be the most ancient and most complex compared with the Aryan/European. The earliest of these is Akkadian documented to Mesopotamia around 2400 BCE.

Hebrew, Aramaic, Egyptian, and Arabic are all Afro/Semitic. They have gender for nouns AND verbs. The genders must agree.

European Languages being descendant from the Aryan/European only have gender for nouns and pronouns. Not verbs. So verb genders were apparently discarded by the Aryan/European group.

Greek is the most complex of the Aryan/European languages and it does not have gender for verbs.

Latin is next most complex but not as complex as Greek.

Japanese also has gender for nouns, pronouns, and verbs. I have studied a little Japanese, Korean, and Mongolian and I know these 3 languages are related. Japanese is one of the most melodic and beautiful languages on the Earth. It has a similar inflection pattern as French although the two are not related at all.

I don't know about Chinese -- other than it is a really fokked up language that sounds like ducks quacking. That's probably where the Chinese got their ideas for words -- from ducks quacking. Chinese is one of if not the ugliest language on the Earth.

I have heard other theories about Chinese being little monkeys that fell out of trees and were not smart enough to climb back up in. So they fell out of the trees, got stuck on the ground, and started quacking like the ducks.

 

[yiostheoy]

...in german------a child has no gender grammatically----
DAS KIND In English----the "reason" usually supplied
for not calling a child IT as is grammatically correct---is that doing so would insult Parents (????) really---so I have been
told--------... the logic
of GRAMMAR -----but babies do tend to PICK it up if spoken to using correct grammar-------they GENERALIZE the rules all on their little own

Wer reitet so spaet durch nacht und wind?
Es ist der vater mit seinem Kind.

Der Erlkönig - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[yiostheoy]

your accusation against the HOLY QUEEN's ENGLISH---is
BLASPHEMY

The English Queen is not holy she is regal or royal.

Were she a Catholic queen then and only then would she be a holy queen.

But ever since Henry the 8th the English church has been in rebellion from the Vatican and therefore not holy.