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esperanza

May 5, 2005, 5:39 AM

Post #1 of 16 (4489 views)

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Gender of Spanish Words

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It's usually fairly simple to know which Spanish words are masculine and which are feminine. There are some exceptions to the basic rule that a word ending in 'o' is masculine and a word ending in 'a' is feminine. One of the more interesting exceptions is this, which follows another rule — the ma, pa, ta rule — which holds that words ending in ma, pa, and ta are likely to be masculine even though a is the last letter.) For example:

el sistema
el programa
el poema

I'd like to know why it works this way. Years ago, someone told me that it was because the words in question come from Greek roots rather than from Latin roots.

Anybody know the truth?

http://www.mexicocooks.typepad.com

Ed and Fran

May 5, 2005, 12:01 PM

Post #2 of 16 (4478 views)

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Re: [esperanza] Gender of Spanish Words

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Years ago, someone told me that it was because the words in question come from Greek roots rather than from Latin roots.

That's what my Spanish tutor told me too. If it's not the truth it's at least a popular urban legend.

Regards

Ed

Marta R

May 5, 2005, 2:58 PM

Post #3 of 16 (4474 views)

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Re: [Ed and Fran] Gender of Spanish Words

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But how far back? "Program", according to dictionary.com, comes to us from the "Late Latin programma, public notice, from Greek programma, programmat-, from prographein, to write publicly : pro-, forth; see pro-2 + graphein, to write; see gerbh- in Indo-European Roots."

"Systema" is, I'd guess, a cognate of "system" which also came to us via Latin, although originally Greek.

Marta

quevedo

May 5, 2005, 3:50 PM

Post #4 of 16 (4467 views)

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Re: [esperanza] Género masculino de palabras españolas no latinas

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Estimada Esperanza:

Me encontré por ahí este artículo que trata de responder a su pregunta. Concluyo que estas palabras son masculinas en español porque provienen del griego -no del latín-, y en ese idioma son palabras masculinas. ¿Por qué en griego tienen género masculino? Eso sí no lo sé, confieso.

Saludos,

Quevedo

__________

Palabras de origen no-latino, de género masculino
A continuación presento una serie de palabras, en su mayoría derivadas del griego, que no siguen las reglas morfológicas del español. También presento otras palabras que pueden presentar dificultad al momento de indicar su género.
En esta sección encontrará algunos ejemplos de estas palabras. Por lo regular se trata de palabras cultas que pasaron al español directamente de otros idiomas. Todas éstas deben ser precedidas con el artículo el o un.
Recuerde que muchas de las palabras que presentan estos problemas terminan en -ma, -pa y -ta. Por lo tanto, tenga cuidado al utilizar una palabra que termine así. No obstante, no todas las palabras que terminan en -ma, -pa, -ta son masculinas. En español existen "autoestima", "rata" y palabras similares, pero son femeninas. Si tiene dudas sobre una palabra específica, consulte un diccionario.

drama
enigma
esquema
estigma
estratega
idioma
lema
lexema
mapa
morfema
planeta
problema
sistema
tema
teorema

Algunas palabras acaban en -ta, pero el uso del artículo masculino o femenino es el que determina el género de la palabra. Por lo general, se trata de palabras que aluden a una profesión, oficio o pasatiempo. Por ejemplo: el tenista o la tenista. Otras palabras similares son:

ajedrecista
atleta
astronauta
baloncelista
deportista
futbolista
malabarista
motociclista
taxista

Palabras de origen latino
Existen otras de origen latino que llevan artículo masculino. Quizá la más común sea día. El caso opuesto es el de mano, del latín 'manus'. En latín esta palabra era de género femenino. Al pasar al español la terminación 'us' se convirtió en 'o', pero se mantuvo el género original de la palabra. Para resumir, se dice el día y la mano.

Marta R

May 5, 2005, 4:25 PM

Post #5 of 16 (4460 views)

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Re: [quevedo] Género masculino de palabras españolas no latinas

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¿Es correcto decir: "El Señor Vargas es un astronotica, y tambien la Señora Gomez es una astronotica"?

¿Y puedes dirme cómo puedo usar letras españolas en Windows? Ahora voy a mi procesador de textos o a Bable Fish y copio las letras, pero es muy torpe.

Marta

Ed and Fran

May 5, 2005, 5:15 PM

Post #6 of 16 (4456 views)

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Re: [chrisnmarta] Género masculino de palabras españolas no latinas

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Aqui tienes algunos:

alt+160 = á
alt+130 = é
alt+161 = í
alt+162 = ó
alt+163 = ú
alt+164 = ñ
alt+165 = Ñ
alt+168 = ¿
alt+173 = ¡
alt+167 = º (grado)

Saludos

E&F

esperanza

May 5, 2005, 6:01 PM

Post #7 of 16 (4452 views)

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Re: [chrisnmarta] Género masculino de palabras españolas no latinas

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El señor Vargas es astronauta; la señora Vargas también es astronauta.

The articles 'a(n)' and 'the' are often omitted in Spanish. For example, the article 'a(n)' is left out before names of profession (occupation), nationality, or religion in Spanish when they follow a form of ser and are not described by an adjective or followed by 'who(m)' or a preposition (con, por, etc.).

You are a lawyer, aren't you?
¿Ud. es abogado, no?

She is a Chilean whom I met in Santiago.
Ella es una chilena a quien conocí en Santiago. (followed by 'whom', takes the indefinite article)

He is an American. (USA)
El es estadounidense.

http://www.mexicocooks.typepad.com

juditha16

May 5, 2005, 7:37 PM

Post #8 of 16 (4442 views)

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Re: [Ed and Fran] Género masculino de palabras españolas no latinas

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I like to switch to the Latin American Keyboard when typing in Spanish. I have a photocopy of the keyboard layout taped next to my monitor. One can purchase overlays of letters and symbols to paste onto your keys, but since I touch type, it makes more sense to look up at the template rather than down at the keys. If you visit http://www.datacal.com/...panish-keyboards.htm you can print a copy of the Latin American Keyboard layout, or purchase the overlays for your keyboard.

In order for this to work, you have to change the settings on your computer to add the additional keyboard language. To do this in MS Windows, go into Control Panel, click on Keyboard, Language, Spanish (Mexico). The keyboard language options that you have selected will be saved to the tray in the lower right corner of your monitor. Then, when you are typing a message or an article in Spanish, just click on the icon to switch from English to Spanish as needed. It's a big help if you want to talk about years and not arses. (In the Latin American keyboard layout, the ñ is located on the key with the colon and semi-colon.)

When I was typing my papers for my Spanish Lit degree, of course I had easily memorized the keyboard layout. But that was many years ago and now this brain is more easily confused. The picture of the layout helps.
Judith

Marta R

May 5, 2005, 8:43 PM

Post #9 of 16 (4435 views)

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Re: [esperanza] Género masculino de palabras españolas no latinas

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!Mira¡ !Puedo usar la letra ñ¡ Mil gracias, todos, por el consejo del teclado y tambien para decirme como usar palabras como abogado.

Todovia necesito aprender como usar acentos, porque no los encuentro en el teclado español. Pero guardare el aprender. (y necesito aprender deletreo tambien)

Marta

(This post was edited by chrisnmarta on May 5, 2005, 8:44 PM)

esperanza

May 5, 2005, 9:03 PM

Post #10 of 16 (4430 views)

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Re: [juditha16] Género masculino de palabras españolas no latinas

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I bought this English-language Dell computer in Texas in 2002. It came with OS Windows XP. For reasons unknown to me, the English-language keyboard has the capacity to type in Spanish, French, and German--with all the applicable accents. I have never configured it to do anything. The orthographic accents á, é, í, ó, and ú are typed by striking the apostrophe key followed immediately by the vowel I want to accent. The ç is typed exactly the same way--apostrophe followed by the 'c'. The ü--the same. The ñ is typed by depressing the shift and striking the tilde key (to the left of the !1 key) followed by the 'n'. Capitals with accents such as the Ñ are typed the same way, including holding down the shift key to form the capital.

Does anyone else out there have a keyboard that works this way? I don't know of another, and I don't know why this one works.

http://www.mexicocooks.typepad.com

juditha16

May 6, 2005, 5:30 AM

Post #11 of 16 (4425 views)

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Re: [chrisnmarta] Género masculino de palabras españolas no latinas

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To type an accent mark on the Spanish keyboard, strike the key next to the "p" and then type the vowel. The ñ is to the right of the letter "l".
Buena suerte,
Judith

juditha16

May 6, 2005, 5:36 AM

Post #12 of 16 (4424 views)

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Re: [quevedo] Género masculino de palabras españolas no latinas

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Lo siento, pero todavía estoy confusa. ¿Se dice "La señora Pérez es abogada" o "abogado"?
Judith

esperanza

May 6, 2005, 6:36 AM

Post #13 of 16 (4419 views)

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Re: [juditha16] Género masculino de palabras españolas no latinas

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Se dice, La señora Pérez es abogada.

Las profesiones que no se cambian de género son las que mencionó nuestro estimadísimo Don Quevedo: los que terminan aunque sean masculino en 'a'. Hay unos más: por ejemplo, pianista, violinista, masoquista (bueno, lo cual no es profesión).

http://www.mexicocooks.typepad.com

juditha16

May 6, 2005, 7:02 AM

Post #14 of 16 (4417 views)

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Re: [esperanza] Género masculino de palabras españolas no latinas

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¡Ay, qué bueno! Ahora entiendo bien. Muchísimas gracias a todos.
Judith

quevedo

May 6, 2005, 1:18 PM

Post #15 of 16 (4397 views)

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Re: [Ed and Fran] Teclado en español

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Para Windows:

Be sure that BloqNum is selected. Press the <Alt> key and, keeping it down, punch the number sequence you want, using the numerical keyboard. The desired character will appear on your screen as soon as you release the <Alt> key.

á <Alt> 160
é <Alt> 130
í <Alt> 161
ó <Alt> 162
ú <Alt> 163
ü <Alt> 129
Á <Alt> 181
É <Alt> 144
Í <Alt> 214
Ó <Alt> 224
Ú <Alt> 233
Ü <Alt> 154
ñ <Alt> 164
Ñ <Alt> 165
¿ <Alt> 168
¡ <Alt> 173

Saludos,

Quevedo

jerezano

May 6, 2005, 3:06 PM

Post #16 of 16 (4392 views)

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Re: [quevedo] Teclado en español

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Hello all,

**This solution does NOT work on a Spanish Keyboard. Only the standard English keyboard.**

There is a very simple way to type the Spanish characters without changing languages nor without changing keyboards nor without any other hard work.

It is to use the International Keyboard that all versions (whether in English or Spanish) of Windows since Win95 have intalled as part of the operating system. With that said, the Windows XP solution is a bit harder to find since, as usual, Microsoft has changed nomenclatures and put the incons into different categories.

Here is what I did on Windows 2000.

Open Control Panel, go to Keyboard, click on language, select English (United States), click on properties, select English-International. (International refers to the Internatiol Keyboard just as Dvjorak refers to that special keyboard). Click on accept, click on accept again.

You now have a keyboard which types correctly in English with one exception: The apostrophe 'and the quote " must be followed by a space bar to show them up. To type any Spanish character áéíóúñ¿¡ you hold down the right alternate key and type your letter. The ü is obtained by holding down the right alternate key and typing y- ü. And for capitals ÁÉÍÓÚÑÜ you hold down the right alternate key and the shift key and type your letter. Is that hard? Absolutely not. Is there a lot to remember? No. Just that trick about the ' and the ". Good luck. Adios. Jerezano.

(This post was edited by jerezano on May 6, 2005, 3:11 PM)