30 Aug 17 13:52, Robert Bashe wrote to Gerrit Kuehn:
GK>> Really? So you would say: You have a very nice dog, what's its name?
RB> Generally yes, unless you know the sex of the dog and then you'd use RB> "his" or "her".
This is where is starts: some nouns come with "natural" genders (would also apply to mother, father etc., which are also perfect nouns). You will probably find contexts in English where other nouns (moon and sun might be good examples that come to my mind right now) will have a gender different from neutrum, too. This is pretty much what also happens in German, although to a larger extend than in English: nouns are associated with a certain gender due to history, mythology or the people connected with them.
RB> As you say, but it certainly makes things more difficult for RB> non-Germans.
I don't know. I think I would find it more difficult when coming from a mother tongue that has /different/ genders to nouns (like French).
RB> But if you pronounce an English word accenting RB> the wrong syllable, the word can become nearly incomprehensible.
I know. I work in a very international environment with people coming from all over the world speaking English...
Regards, Gerrit
--- Msged/BSD 6.1.2 * Origin: Tall orders to fulfil (2:240/12)
