Feature #1 Gender
From what I've observed, languages are absolutely obsessed with sorting things by gender. But there are actually two different things going on, and it's worth separating them...[read more]
Natural gender: pronouns reflect the actual gender of a person. That's English.
Grammatical gender: every noun belongs to a class, including spoons, tables, and the moon. That's Italian, German, and many others.
English: He, She, and It
English has he/him/his, she/her/hers, and it/its. That's as far as it goes, and it mostly follows reality: people get he or she, a table is "it". (Except ships, which are sometimes "she" for reasons sailors would have to explain.)
Top comments (0)