Hi all,
in german language we say "der Katamaran" what means the gender of the word is male.
How ist that in english ? Is "catamaran" a female noun?
I read in another thread "Here she is!" meaning the new boat.
Only trying to understand it correct.
Edited by paneuropean on Oct 01, 2013 - 11:47 PM.
English language question
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Posted: Oct 01, 2013 - 04:47 PM
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Posted: Oct 01, 2013 - 05:20 PM
All boats are female.
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Ron
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Posted: Oct 01, 2013 - 06:01 PM
Some are even sexy
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Jack B
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Posted: Oct 01, 2013 - 06:39 PM
english doesn't really have gender meaning in the words like german and french do.
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Posted: Oct 01, 2013 - 08:47 PM
the question reminds me of a movie where the old guy with the hot wife and her hot friends get off a G-4 and a guy at the airport says "wow she is a beauty" the old guy asks"which one" the guy says "the plane" -
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Posted: Oct 01, 2013 - 10:25 PM
When speaking English, objects, (planes, boats, cars, houses, mountains etc) are usually referred to as "she", however this is an informal custom, not a rule of grammar. Nouns by themselves are not formally identified as masculine or feminine, as they are in French, ie bicyclette
example, you are out in Western Canada, touring the Rocky Mountains. You point to a peak & ask your buddy, "what do you think of that one?"
He replies, "she's a tall one."
I did not realize nouns have gender when sprechende deutsch.
The classic movie, Das Boot means The Boat, no?
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Posted: Oct 02, 2013 - 12:50 AM
In german it is a little complicated. The english word "the" must be translated to "der"(masculinum) , "die" (femininum)or "das" (neuter).
It depends upon which word can replace it.
"Das Boot" can be replaced with "es" (engl. "it") so its neuter.
"Der Katamaran" can be replaced with "er" (engl. "he") so its masculinum.
"Die Fockschot" (jib sheet) can be replaced with "sie" so its femininum.
If a boat gets a female name like Mary it turns to female "die Mary"
Absolutely crazy and very hard to understand or explain is it with mountains or rivers.
"die Donau", but "der Rhein" (rivers)
"der Mont Blanc" but "die Zugspitze" or "das Hörnli" (mountains)
"das Auto" (car) but "der BMW" and "der Ford", "das Motorrad" (motorbike) but "die BMW" and "die Harley"
So if Americans learn german, they have a good chance of 2:1 to get the wrong gender
Thanks for your explanations - very helpful for my understanding of english.
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Tom (1981 Hobie Cat 16 Tequila Sunrise)
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Posted: Oct 02, 2013 - 07:29 AM
When the Stealership quoted me $750 to change the transmission oil on my Mercedes, I called it a Miserable Coc&%#@ing Bee itch. Is that grammatically wrong?
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Posted: Oct 02, 2013 - 09:09 AM
"The" is alway correct in english but in german the dealer is masculinum, the a**hole is neuter and the b*tch is femininum
But I prefer to let the transmission fluid in my italian manufactured german Ford change by the cheap Nissan Dealer opposite of my office for less than $750
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Tom (1981 Hobie Cat 16 Tequila Sunrise)
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Posted: Oct 02, 2013 - 10:58 AM
You didn't mention the Inuit receptionist who has a Corgi that eats only Vegimite? :)
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