![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/danish\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/30\/2011\/12\/et.jpg\")
<\/a>In Danish, neuter words are often accompanied by an ET syllable\u2026<\/p><\/div>\n
Danish nouns have genders.<\/strong><\/span> If English is your only language, that claim may seem just a wee bit absurd: Do Danish vocabulary items come with sex organs, or what?! In case you\u2019ve got some basic acquaintance with French, Spanish, German or perhaps Latin, you certainly know that grammatical gender and biological gender are two worlds apart. And yet there is a connection \u2013 let\u2019s time travel\u2026<\/p>\n Back in the days when Common Indo-European was spoken (the language that would later spread and split and evolve into new languages as distinct as Spanish, English and indeed Danish)<\/span>, the language had a way to grammatically mark a person\u2019s or animal\u2019s sex. Nouns describing female beings \u2013 a girl, a sheep, a hind \u2013 were marked by a specific ending as belonging to the\u00a0feminine<\/span> class of words. Nouns describing male beings \u2013 a boy, a ram, a stag \u2013 were highlighted by another ending as pertaining to the masculine<\/span> class of words. A lot of words without reference to a particular sex \u2013 like \u2019a child\u2019 \u2013 were lumped together in the neuter<\/span> class of words. Unfortunately, those distant Indo-Europeans didn\u2019t know where to stop\u2026 They extended the grammatical gender system to the whole<\/span> language, so that every<\/em><\/strong> noun had to belong to one of the three genders! For thousands of years to come, speakers of Indo-European languages had to know whether completely sexless objects like a sun<\/em>, a moon<\/em>, a dining table<\/em>\u00a0were considered feminine, masculine or neuter\u2026<\/p>\n The three-gender system is conserved in German and Latin. In French and Spanish, it has been reduced to two genders: masculine and feminine (el gringo<\/em> \u2013 la gringa<\/em>, right?). In modern English, the three genders have been conflated. In effect, the gender system has disappeared<\/span>, except in the singular pronouns (he<\/em> \u2013 she<\/em>). But hey! isn\u2019t this blog about Danish?!<\/p>\n Strangely enough, in Danish the neuter<\/span> has been conserved, while the masculine and feminine genders have been fused into the so-called common gender<\/span><\/em> (f\u00e6llesk\u00f8n<\/strong>). So, in short, there are two genders in Danish, and they have nothing to do with sex!<\/p>\n When learning Danish<\/a>, it is always important to know a noun\u2019s gender. Because a lot of small words, like articles<\/a>, change looks to fit the gender of the noun they\u2019re accompanying\u2026<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The common gender is characterized by \u201den\u201d words:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n en<\/span> mand \u2013 manden<\/span> \u2013 ingen<\/span> mand \u2013 ikke nogen<\/span> mand<\/strong><\/p>\n a man \u2013 the man \u2013 no man \u2013 not any man<\/em><\/p>\n en<\/span> lykkelig kvinde \u2013 den<\/span> lykkelige kvinde \u2013 kvinden<\/span> er lykkelig<\/strong><\/p>\n a happy woman \u2013 the happy woman \u2013 the woman is happy<\/em><\/p>\n <\/em> et<\/span> bord \u2013 bordet<\/span> \u2013 intet<\/span> bord \u2013 ikke noget<\/span> bord<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong>a table\u00a0\u2013 the table \u2013 no table \u2013 not any table<\/em><\/p>\n <\/em>et<\/span> lykkeligt<\/span> barn \u2013 det<\/span> lykkelige barn \u2013 barnet<\/span> er lykkeligt<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong>a happy child \u2013 the happy child \u2013 the child is happy<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n In the plural, the gender difference is blurred:<\/span><\/p>\n lykkelige kvinder, lykkelige b\u00f8rn<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong>happy women, happy children<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n kvinderne er lykkelige, b\u00f8rnene er lykkelige<\/strong><\/p>\n the women are happy, the children are happy<\/em><\/p>\n Unfortunately, there are no clear-cut rules. The good news is, however that 70 % of Danish nouns are common gender. Danish nouns have genders. If English is your only language, that claim may seem just a wee bit absurd: Do Danish vocabulary items come with sex organs, or what?! In case you\u2019ve got some basic acquaintance with French, Spanish, German or perhaps Latin, you certainly know that grammatical gender and biological gender are two…<\/p>\n
\n<\/em><\/strong>
\nThe neuter gender is characterized by \u201det\u201d words:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/em>
\nHow do I know the gender of a noun?<\/h2>\n
\nWhen expanding your Danish vocabulary, there\u2019s only one thing to consider: Is this noun neuter?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"