Many language learners have problems with the gender of nouns. But it will be more difficult when the gender doesn’t correspond to the gender in your own language (of course, only if your language has genders).
There could be words like “life” which is feminine in French (”la vie”), but neutral in German (”das Leben”). Or the word “problem” which is neutral in Dutch (”het probleem”), but masculine in Italian (”il problema”).
But what could you do to remember also the gender of the words you learn?
3 tips to memorise the gender
1) Use other words
In some languages you can memorise the gender of the noun because the verb marks it in some tenses. In Italian, for example, the verb gets the ending “o” or “a”:
1) Il ragazzo è andato a scuola. (The boy went to school.
– the “o” of “andato” marks the masculine gender
2) La figlia è andata a scuola. (The daughter went to school.)
– the “a” of “andata” marks the feminine gender
2) Use adjectives
This tip only works when you use adjectives which change with gender. In French could that be the following ones: “long, longue”, “petit, petite” and “blanc, blanche”. Contrary to this the French word “rouge” doesn’t change with gender.
So if you have to learn new nouns, add an adjective and learn these words together.
3) Use stories
Write stories with different nouns. You can use the first two tips to mark and to learn the gender of each word. These stories could be short or long and it doesn’t matter what the topic is. Important is that you use the words. In addition, you could also improve your writing skills and learn new words.
Of course, these three tips don’t work in every language. But I am sure, there are a lot of possibilities to learn genders. Start finding your own way!
Come back to CourseFinders.com for more articles about languages and studying abroad.
Follow us on Facebook and Twitter and don’t miss another article on CourseFinders.com!
Find the perfect language school for you! Compare over 1000 English schools on CourseFinders.