GENDER

- semantic category
- different from the Czech language (English nouns and adjectives don’t have it)
- covered grammatical category ® we recognize male, female and neutral only by pronouns (he, she, it)
- distinguish: 3rd person singular personal pronouns (he, she, it)
3rd person singular possessive pronouns (his, her, its)
3rd person singular reflexive pronouns (himself, herself, itself)
- interrogative and relative pronouns animate (who, whom, whose)
inanimate (what, which)

Semantico-grammatical classification:

· Animate personal male (semantic) x masculine (grammatical)
female x feminine
dual x masculine or feminine (friend, teacher, parent)
– we have to know from the context

common – can be either masculine, feminine of neuter (child, infant)
collective – neuter, singular or plural (committee, family, board)

non-personal higher animals x masculine, feminine or neuter
lower animals x neuter (bee, fly, mouse)

· Inanimate always neuter