Ask a Question

(Create a thread)
Go Back   Spanish language learning forums > Spanish & English Languages > Grammar


Is something masculine or feminine by the word we use or what it is intrinsically?

 

This is the place for questions about conjugations, verb tenses, adverbs, adjectives, word order, syntax and other grammar questions for English or Spanish.


Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old January 04, 2011, 08:52 PM
Oso Oso is offline
Banned
 
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 4
Oso is on a distinguished road
Is something masculine or feminine by the word we use or what it is intrinsically?

So I know that female nouns have female descriptors and male nouns male ones. But what happens if you're descibing something that has a different gender? For instance, if I wanted to talk about a girl and say

Su cuerpo fue bajo.

Is it "baja" instead?
Reply With Quote
   
Get rid of these ads by registering for a free Tomísimo account.
  #2  
Old January 04, 2011, 08:56 PM
ChilenoAlemanCanada ChilenoAlemanCanada is offline
Pearl
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Posts: 116
Native Language: English
ChilenoAlemanCanada is on a distinguished road
Since the adjective is describing cuerpo, a masculine noun, it would be bajo.

Adjective agree with whatever they're describing, so even if you are describing the girl, since the bajo is describing cuerpo, it remains as bajo. Also, the gender of a word only depends on the word itself, not what the word means.
__________________
Corrijan mis errores, por favor.

Last edited by ChilenoAlemanCanada; January 04, 2011 at 09:03 PM.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old January 04, 2011, 09:13 PM
Rusty's Avatar
Rusty Rusty is offline
Señor Speedy
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: USA
Posts: 11,299
Native Language: American English
Rusty has a spectacular aura aboutRusty has a spectacular aura about
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oso View Post
So I know that female nouns have female descriptors and male nouns male ones. But what happens if you're descibing something that has a different gender? For instance, if I wanted to talk about a girl and say

Su cuerpo fue bajo.

Is it "baja" instead?
Forget what gender means in English. That word is an unfortunate misnomer. Instead, think about having two types of nouns. A noun is either type 'masculine' or type 'feminine'.

Matching gender is nothing more than making the adjective agree with the noun. In the sentence you wrote, the noun is cuerpo. (It doesn't matter who the cuerpo belongs to.) Bajo agrees with the noun cuerpo, but it isn't the correct adjective to use. The verb tense isn't correct, either.

In a textbook, you're probably taught to use some characteristics to describe yourself, like soy bajo (I'm short). If the noun (subject pronoun) refers to a female, then the adjective would have the feminine ending, instead - soy baja.

As you know, you use ser when you refer to a person's characteristic. If you're describing a characteristic that someone had in the past, you use the imperfect tense instead of the preterite - era baja (she was short).

But, to describe the height of something, like cuerpo in your sentence, you would use corto.

Her body was short.
Su cuerpo era corto.
Reply With Quote
Reply

 

Link to this thread
URL: 
HTML Link: 
BB Code: 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Site Rules

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Why is it ok to use el with a feminine noun? Feliz Grammar 17 September 13, 2010 02:44 AM
Word, lexeme, word-form, morpheme, morph, allomporh ROBINDESBOIS Grammar 2 May 26, 2010 10:35 AM
Is it masculine or feminine in the dictionary? bleitzow Vocabulary 8 November 12, 2007 02:50 PM
femenine and masculine Grammar Man Grammar 3 September 17, 2007 08:42 AM


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 03:42 AM.

Forum powered by vBulletin® Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.

X