GENDER
– semantic category
– different from the Czech language (English nouns and adjectives don’t have it)
– covered grammatical category ® we recognize male, female and neutral only by pronouns (he, she, it)
– distinguish: 3rd person singular personal pronouns (he, she, it)
3rd person singular possessive pronouns (his, her, its)
3rd person singular reflexive pronouns (himself, herself, itself)
– interrogative and relative pronouns animate (who, whom, whose)
inanimate (what, which)
Semantico-grammatical classification:
· Animate personal male (semantic) x masculine (grammatical)
female x feminine
dual x masculine or feminine (friend, teacher, parent)
– we have to know from the context
common – can be either masculine, feminine of neuter (child, infant)
collective – neuter, singular or plural (committee, family, board)
non-personal higher animals x masculine, feminine or neuter
lower animals x neuter (bee, fly, mouse)
· Inanimate always neuter
