Why do some languages have both a masculine and feminine form of words?
Great question, and there probably is no answer, except that some of our forefathers liked to look at the world in this sexually segregated way — although in the cold, modern day of light, it is a system that is both completely useless and a pain in the a*se. In a few cases you might see it as a philosophical statement — the moon is female in French, Spanish and Italian, but male in German, while the sun is female in German but male in Latin languages. Something to ponder when you have too much free time on your hands. Interestingly both German and English are Germanic languages, but only German has this gender system of nouns, and is actually employing all three genders. And you probably thought that German was unflamboyant, huh? So it’s “she laundry machine”, “he dish washer” and “it auto” (but “he car”). Simple, really. The French however, never to be outdone by their easternly neighbours in terms of grandiose insanity, got even by going apesh*t with simple numbers. So 98 in Frenc
