If you read half a page of Spanish text written in the first person and realized at the end of it that you didn't know if the narrator was male or female, would you be surprised?
2007-12-09 09:34:54 · 8 answers · asked by Goddess of Grammar 7 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
No, not at all.
It's possible to write a whole paragraph about yourself without letting the reader know whether you're a man or a woman.
You'd have to be careful with most adjectives since they can be feminine or masculine and therefore change.
i.e. Yo soy buena. I'm good. (I'm a woman, therefore buena ends in A)
You soy bueno. I'm good. (I'm a man, therefore bueno needs O at the end.)
There are, however, a number of adjectives which will be used by one or the other.
i.e. inteligente
Some others can be changed into phrases to avoid letting the reader guess.
Instead of saying
Yo soy curiosa. (I'm curious.) you can say: Tengo una gran curiosidad. (I have great curiosity.)
Verbs will not show your sex.
John: I'm from Poland. I live in Warsaw.
Mary: I'm from Poland. I live in Warsaw.
I read your previous question but honestly, I felt your nick was too impressive and I felt somehow intimidated.
Hope it helped you on your search.
2007-12-09 09:48:50 · answer #1 · answered by Profuy 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
depends on the text, but if it was in the first person it probably had loads of clues for you to realize what gender the narrator was.
like, if he/she ever talked about his/her feelings it would be pretty easy to see whether it was a man or a woman talking (like, yo estaba hambriento/hambrienta)
of course certain words are used indiferently,so if he used adjectives like TRISTE or FELIZ there is no way you could have known.
in spanish there is no difference between this two sentences: i bought her a car and i bought him a car (they would both be le compre un auto, there is no need to say a el or a ella)
so, it's not what usually happens but it's still possible you couldn't have deciphered what the narrator's gender was
2007-12-09 09:42:43 · answer #2 · answered by strawberryfields 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Not really, but is a kind of difficult to do that in Spanish due some words to talk about our selves demonstrate our gender. Words in that paragraph most be chose very carefully.
2007-12-09 09:47:58 · answer #3 · answered by Javy 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the verb does not inform you, neither does the item (it concurs with the element possessed - no longer the guy) that's accessible to write down a paragraph like this...you may prefer to communicate over with your self as una character and have the adjectives comply with that - additionally, many adjectives in Spanish pertaining to anybody is non-particular, together with inteligente, intelectual, known :-) good success - you're able to do it!!!!
2016-10-10 22:32:56 · answer #4 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I would only be surprised if there were a barrage of 'to be' verbs. These verbs would likely precede adjectives that often (but not always) indicate gender.
2007-12-09 12:14:27 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
no it no suprising due to words in spanish all having genders its kinda hard to pin point what gender your talking a bout unless you bluntly say it or give out clues ..
2007-12-09 10:13:52 · answer #6 · answered by Neto 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
no cause it happens alot.i cant realize in some english short text either.
2007-12-09 09:41:36 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
No, Not really!
2007-12-09 09:42:06 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋