The word "feminine"

Question

Hola!

This is probably a ridiculously silly question, but I just don't understand.

So, our dictionary has this translation for the word "feminine". I don't understand what it means by "femenino" (gramática). Can someone explain what that means?

Nice question, Sonrisa :) - 00b6f46c, Jul 22, 2011

Thank you! - SonrisaDelSol, Jul 22, 2011

Answer 1

RAE

(Del lat. femin?nus).

1. adj. Propio de mujeres.

2. adj. Perteneciente o relativo a ellas.

3. adj. Que posee los rasgos propios de la feminidad.

4. adj. Dicho de un ser: Dotado de órganos para ser fecundado.

5. adj. Perteneciente o relativo a este ser.

6. adj. Débil, endeble.

7. adj. Gram. Perteneciente al género femenino. Nombre femenino. Terminación femenina. U. t. c. s.

8. m. Gram. género femenino.

So what I think it is telling you is that if you want to use it as a noun, it can only be used as such as a grammar term; as an adjective it can have non-grammar related uses.

In Spanish.

Here's an English definition of feminine:

adj. 1. Of or relating to women or girls. See Synonyms at female. 2. Characterized by or possessing qualities generally attributed to a woman. 3. Effeminate; womanish. 4. Grammar Designating or belonging to the gender of words or grammatical forms that refer chiefly to females or to things classified as female. n. Grammar 1. The feminine gender. 2. A word or form belonging to the feminine gender.

freedictionary

I have personally never used feminine as a noun.

Thanks, Stadt! It's so ironic how "femenino" is masculine, jaja! - SonrisaDelSol, Jul 22, 2011

Answer 2

I think the simplest way to explain it as a grammatical use is that nouns all have gender. In order to use the correct pronouns and adjectives, you need to know if the noun is masculine or feminine. La casa (feminine), el dinero (masculine.) La chica está aburrida (ends in "a" because it's feminine), el chico está aburrido (ends in "o" because it's masculine..

Thanks. I do understand that part. I was just wondering what "gramático" meant in our dictionary. Gracias, armadillo. - SonrisaDelSol, Jul 22, 2011

Welcome to the forum! - 00b6f46c, Jul 22, 2011