Death

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Originally Posted by Iris

You've made me wonder. When we personify a car or a ship in Spanish, are they feminine like in English?

Personification in Spanish is directly related to word gender. A car or a ship will be usually masculine.

El barco
El coche/auto/carro (the car)

Although there is:
La nave
La camioneta (the van) --> This one is a feminine.


"El mar" and "la mar" are both possible because it's a substantive that can be either feminine or masculine.

A few years ago, a German friend of mine visited Mexico. When we were in a restaurant, she went to the restroom and came back very ashamed because she had walked into men's toilet. Most doors have a label, but these ones only had a Sun and a Moon. She was confused because gender for both are the opposite in German and in Spanish.


About Elaina's comment: I think that when it comes about cars, Spanish-speaking men identify themselves with the motor-power and the looks of the car, so it's more "me" than "my girlfriend". And I guess it's something similar to boat crews.

[bobjenkins]

Originally Posted by Elaina

Going out on a limb here..........

When we personify something, we usually use the opposite sex of what we are. We let everyone know how much "in love" we are with our car or with the ship that is going to carry us across the ocean.

My college professor used to say that it was more "socially acceptable" no matter what the language was.

Is it true? I don't know.

Elaina

Me lo parece que es la verdad (it seems to me that it is the truth)

[Tomisimo]

Originally Posted by bobjenkins

Me lo parece que es la verdad (it seems to me that it is the truth)

Me parece que es la verdad. (sin "lo")