Grammaire · Le nom et le groupe nominal · A1 · 12 min
Gender
Two genders from Latin's three — Romanian kept a neuter — and the words the sisters disagree on.
Les explications sont pour l’instant en anglais ; les exemples sont dans toutes les langues.
Latin had three genders; the Western sisters kept two. The neuter collapsed because its typical endings sounded like masculine ones, so most neuters became masculine: VĪNUM 'wine' and TEMPUS 'time' gave vino, vin, vino, vinho, vi and tiempo, temps, tempo, tempo, temps. But some neuter plurals in -A looked like feminine singulars and were reanalyzed as such: FOLIA 'leaves' became a single feminine leaf — hoja, feuille, foglia, folha, fulla. Romanian alone kept a third gender for nouns: its vin and timp are neuter.
| Spanish | French | Italian | Portuguese | Romanian | Catalan | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| usually masculine | -o: el libro | -age, -ment, -eau: le voyage, le moment | -o: il libro | -o: o livro | consonant: un lup (or n.: un scaun) | consonant: el gat, el llop |
| usually feminine | -a: la casa | -tion, -té, -ure: la nation, la santé | -a: la casa | -a: a casa | -ă, -a: o casă | -a: la casa |
| either | -e or consonant: el puente, la noche | -e: le livre, la table | -e: il ponte, la notte | -e or consonant: o pente, a noite, a flor | -e: un frate, o carte | -e or consonant: el llibre, la nit |
Same word, different gender
| English | Spanish | French | Italian | Portuguese | Romanian | Catalan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| sea | el mar | la mer | il mare | o mar | marea (f.) | el mar |
| milk | la leche | le lait | il latte | o leite | laptele (n.) | la llet |
| blood | la sangre | le sang | il sangue | o sangue | sângele (n.) | la sang |
| salt | la sal | le sel | il sale | o sal | sarea (f.) | la sal |
| honey | la miel | le miel | il miele | o mel | mierea (f.) | la mel |
| end | el fin | la fin | la fine | o fim | — | la fi |
| value | el valor | la valeur | il valore | o valor | valoarea (f.) | el valor |
| heat | el calor | la chaleur | il calore | o calor | — | la calor |
| pain | el dolor | la douleur | il dolore | a dor | — | el dolor |
Italian's neuter fossils: plurals in -a
A small set of Italian masculine nouns switch to a feminine plural in -a: l'uovo, le uova. This -a is the Latin neuter plural (OVUM, OVA) living on, and it spread to a few nouns that were never neuter. Many are body parts that come in pairs or sets. The article and adjectives turn feminine with it: le uova fresche, le braccia stanche. Some keep both plurals with different meanings: i bracci (of a river, a lamp) but le braccia (of a person); i muri (walls) but le mura (city walls).
| Singular (m.) | Plural (f.) | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| l'uovo | le uova | egg |
| il braccio | le braccia | arm |
| il dito | le dita | finger |
| il labbro | le labbra | lip |
| il ginocchio | le ginocchia | knee |
| il lenzuolo | le lenzuola | bedsheet |
| il paio | le paia | pair |
Romanian: a living neuter
What Italian keeps as a handful of fossils, Romanian turned into a whole gender. A neuter noun behaves as masculine in the singular and as feminine in the plural: un scaun nou 'a new chair', două scaune noi 'two new chairs' — two is două, the feminine form. Its plurals end in -e or in -uri, an ending that goes back to Latin neuter plurals in -ORA such as TEMPORA. Even the egg matches Italian: ou, ouă, as uovo, uova.
| Singular (n.) | Plural (n.) | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| un ou | două ouă | egg |
| un braț | două brațe | arm |
| un scaun | două scaune | chair |
| un tren | două trenuri | train |
| un timp | timpuri | time, tense |
Il mare è calmo.
El mar está tranquilo.
La mer est calme.
O mar está calmo.
Marea e calmă.
El mar està tranquil.
The sea is calm.
Masculine in Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and Catalan, feminine in French and Romanian — and the adjective follows.
Il latte è caldo.
La leche está caliente.
Le lait est chaud.
O leite está quente.
Laptele e fierbinte.
La llet està calenta.
The milk is hot.
Spanish and Catalan made LAC feminine; French, Italian and Portuguese masculine; Romanian lapte is neuter.
Questo colore è bellissimo.
Este color es precioso.
Cette couleur est magnifique.
Esta cor é linda.
Culoarea asta e superbă.
Aquest color és preciós.
This color is gorgeous.
French couleur, Portuguese cor and Romanian culoare are feminine: cette, esta, asta.
Mi fanno male le braccia.
Me duelen los brazos.
J'ai mal aux bras.
Estou com dor nos braços.
Mă dor brațele.
Em fan mal els braços.
My arms hurt.
il braccio, le braccia: masculine in the singular, feminine in the plural — exactly how Romanian braț, brațe behaves as a neuter.
Compra una dozzina di uova.
Compra una docena de huevos.
Achète une douzaine d'œufs.
Compra uma dúzia de ovos.
Cumpără o duzină de ouă.
Compra una dotzena d'ous.
Buy a dozen eggs.
Italian uova and Romanian ouă both continue the Latin neuter plural OVA.
La foglia cade dall'albero.
La hoja cae del árbol.
La feuille tombe de l'arbre.
A folha cai da árvore.
Frunza cade din copac.
La fulla cau de l'arbre.
The leaf falls from the tree.
FOLIA 'leaves' (neuter plural) became one feminine leaf in five sisters. Romanian has foaie too, but mostly for a sheet of paper; a tree's leaf is frunză.