Gender of words

Question

I have what will be the dumbest question ever asked. As I have been trying to learn Spanish I have to wonder why after all the centuries gone by. The language has not evolved into an easier way of speaking and writing it. Specifically the gender of a word, from what I can see that if you left the gender the off (i.e. el, la, las, los, and many others) it does not change the meaning of the word. I mean no disrespect but for a beginner it seems like a far question?

Answer 1

Actually, the language has evolved a great deal. Originally, there was no gender, only one form of verb conjugation, there were no synonyms, words had only one meaning, and the words estar and para did not exist. Then the Spanish people realized that their language was much too easy for foreigners to learn, so they made it more complicated for reasons of national security.

well that helps me understand better, Thanks! - Benton, Oct 20, 2010

thanks for making fun of me i like that! - Benton, Oct 20, 2010

A more interesting question is how English ended up almost genderless when almost all of it came from German, French, Greek, and Latiin, which all have gender. - lorenzo9, Oct 20, 2010

My favorite answer is that the genders in German and French are usually opposites. - lorenzo9, Oct 20, 2010

English used to have gender but it was done away with in the late 60s to make way for "political correctness" and the ongoing battle between the sexes. I believe listening to the devil's music on transistor radios also contributed - 005faa61, Oct 20, 2010

I believe Elvis was involved and/or Gloria Steinem. :) - Nicole-B, Oct 20, 2010

Overexposure to the chemicals in dayglo paint is the clinical explanation. - lorenzo9, Oct 20, 2010

Why are you revealing so casually our big secrets, Lorenzo? ;) - cogumela, Oct 20, 2010

I haven't stopped laughing!!!! You made my day! - Nilda-Ballardo, Oct 21, 2010

Answer 2

Benton said:

I have what will be the dumbest question ever asked.

Benton, I don't think this is a dumb question. I think that as we each begin studying a foreign language, many similar questions occur to us. I have found myself questioning many things in the English language as well.

From my English speaking perspective, I think it would be amazing if the genders were dropped and conjugation was simplified. However, to the Spanish speaking person, it makes perfect sense. They probably wonder why we don't use genders for our nouns. They are probably also wondering why we can't simplify our system of vowel sounds.

"Are you kidding me? Long vowels, short vowels, "y" is sometimes a vowel? That is crazy.

Thanks - Benton, Oct 20, 2010

Answer 3

You're looking at this from your own English experience, which of course is quite natural.

From a Spaniard's point of view, a language with no gender and reflexives just doesn't make sense.

From a Thai's point of view, a language that doesn't conjugate a verb or noun by different intonations of the same word doesn't make sense.

If you can't look at it from outside of your own language, then I suggest you accept Lorenzo's superb answer. I voted for it myself!

Answer 4

Sometimes in regards to linguistic differences it is easier to accept what is and not ask "why".Welcome to the forum

My thoughts exactly! Gaf gaf - 005faa61, Oct 20, 2010

Answer 5

Specifically the gender of a word, from what I can see that if you left the gender the off (i.e. el, la, las, los, and many others) it does not change the meaning of the word.

No changes?

Amigo = Male friend

Amiga = female friend

El otro = The other male one

La otra = the other female one

Gender is unnecessary for anything that has no sex, but so are many other features of all other languages. Why can't you say "Go cinema tomorrow" instead of "I'm going to the cinema tomorrow"? The former is grammatically perfect in many languages like Chinese or Japanese, with no tenses or articles, and in the case of Japanese, no compulsory personal pronouns. Why not suppressing useless prepositions too? Many languages do not use them like we do in English and Spanish, e.g. "Want you go university" instead of "I want you to go to the university". Why don't you say "No shout him" instead of "Don't shout at him"? In Spanish we say "No le grites", without that "at" and no "I". Why not "Am looking you" instead of "I am looking for you", like in Spanish ("Te estoy buscando").

And now your question without "useless" grammatical features that many languages apparently do not need to communicate effectively:

Have dumbest question ever ask. As try to learn Spanish have to wonder why after all century gone language no evolve into an easier way speak and write. Specifically gender of word, from what see that if leave gender the off no change meaning of word. Mean no disrespect but for beginner seem like far question?

I don't know you, but I can understand it perfectly.

The language has not evolved into an easier way of speaking and writing it.

Easier way of writing? Are you talking about English? My wife learnt how to read Spanish within 10 minutes. In English you can't ever say you can read all words correctly, let alone writing them. I make no spelling mistakes (if I am careful) in Spanish because it is logical. Can you say the same in English? So what evolution are you talking about?

Answer 6

Hi, Benton. I don't think this is a dumb question, either. We just look at language in a different way because we think in English. But our dog friend, Niznoni is right--we just have to accept the way it is and not question why. Let's put our energy into learning Spanish. You can do it, Benton. I'm routing for you!

Answer 7

Billstpor wrote

chaotic pronunciation rules, that allow the same letter to have different sounds from word to word without clear references

Yes, but that is balanced out by allowing different letters to be pronounced the same way in various cases.

True.. it all starts to make sense now.. or something ;p - bill1111, Oct 21, 2010

Answer 8

Have dumbest question ever. As try learn Spanish wonder why after all century gone language no evolve into easier way speak write. Specifically gender word, from see if leave gender no change meaning word. Mean no disrespect for beginner seem fair?

more superfluous words deleted

Answer 9

Hey, Benton,

Yours is a fair question. Unfortunately, like so many "why" questions in the language arena, it has no answer either.

I think, if you continue to pursue Spanish, you will find SE far more maddening than gender.

Answer 10

Yep, when you look at other languages it's easy to spot their unnecessary complexities and incongruences, but that is a two-way street, and English isn't devoid of them:

• chaotic pronunciation rules, that allow the same letter to have different sounds from word to word without clear references
• irregular verbs (just like in Spanish)
• lots of synonyms, or at least words with similar meanings (even more than in Spanish I think). Care to take a look, to see, to take a glance, take a gander, to observe, or perhaps just read, browse, scan, or maybe even skim through this text?
• huge variety of dialects all around the world, each with wildly different pronunciations, vocabulary, slang..
• etc..

Answer 11

I can see that if you left the gender the off (i.e. el, la, las, los, and many others) it does not change the meaning of the word.

Actually, that's not always true. Many words have gender-specific meanings. Just look up a few:

La manzana - the apple

El manzano - the apple tree

I'm sure others with larger vocabularies could fill a page with more examples.

Answer 12

Hi Benton,

I think languages are different from each other. Each have their own uniqueness. It wouldn't be interesting if all the language have the same pattern. This part of grammar is not there in my language and I find this very interesting to learn it. It is difficult, but I like it.