Why Do Languages Disagree on Genders?
Ever tried learning a new language and messed up the gender of a word? Turns out, it’s not just you—it’s a built-in headache. Some languages make you assign a gender to everything, while others just don’t care. And if your mother tongue is one of those carefree ones, learning a gendered language is like suddenly needing to put a gender tag on every object in your house.
Wait, Why Does Hindi Have Genders and English Doesn’t?
Let’s break it down:
English: “He plays” vs. *“She plays” —same verb, no drama.
Hindi: *“लड़का खेल रहा है” vs. “लड़की खेल रही है” —suddenly, your verb has an identity crisis (रहा vs. रही).
For speakers of genderless languages like English, Bengali, or Malayalam, learning Hindi feels like getting a crash course in object identity politics. Meanwhile, Hindi speakers learning English feel like something is missing—where’s the gender info?
How Indian Languages Handle Gender
Turns out, not all Indian languages handle gender the same way. Some are rigid, some are flexible, and some just don’t bother. Here’s the breakdown:
Binary Gender (Masculine & Feminine) – Hindi, Punjabi
Gender Triad (Masculine, Feminine, Neuter – Subjective) – Marathi, Gujarati
Gender Triad (Masculine, Feminine, Neuter – Rule-Based) – Tamil, Kannada
Only Gendered Pronouns – Malayalam
Completely Gender Neutral (Pronouns & Verbs) – Bengali, Odia
This means a Marathi speaker might trip over Hindi because Marathi assigns different genders to the same word. Example: “समय” (time) is masculine in Hindi, but “वेळ” (time) is feminine in Marathi! And Tamil speakers, who rely on rule-based gender assignment, might find Hindi’s subjective approach totally arbitrary.
When Languages Disagree on Gender
Learning a new gendered language when your first language is also gendered is an extra level of fun (read: chaos). The problem? Different languages assign gender based on cultural perceptions, not logic.
For instance:
Spanish: “Bridge” is masculine → Spanish speakers describe it as “strong and big.”
German: “Bridge” is feminine → Germans describe it as “elegant and fragile.”
Hindi: “Sun” (सूरज) is masculine, but in German, the sun is feminine (die Sonne)!
Basically, your brain is trained to see some words as masculine and others as feminine, and then—boom!—new language, new rules. No wonder it feels weird.
Measuring Gender Confusion
Short answer: Yes. I got curious and crunched some data. Here’s what I found:
North Indian languages have high gender disagreements with South Indian languages.
Marathi and Gujarati are stuck in the middle—disagreeing with both.
Dravidian languages (Tamil, Telugu) follow their own logic, making them extra unique.
Foreign languages (except German) mostly have only two genders, leading to high mismatch scores with Hindi.
We calculated a Gender Disagreement Score by translating 200 common English nouns into different languages and checking how often their genders differed. Higher scores mean more mismatches—aka, more confusion.
Does Language Change Your Personality?
Grammatical gender isn’t just about memorizing words—it subtly shapes how you see the world. For example, in hot countries like Italy, the sun is seen as strong and masculine. But in colder places like Germany, it’s gentle and feminine. The words we use influence how we think in ways we don’t even notice.
So next time you mess up noun genders while speaking a new language, just remember: You’re not just translating words—you’re stepping into a whole new way of thinking. And honestly? That’s kind of awesome.
