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.