this post was submitted on 03 Aug 2026
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That only works if they have different genders. Which is often not the case in most gendered languages.
“Bob sacó su manzana de la caja y la dejó caer.”
Bob took his female apple out of his female box and let it (female) fall
Also from my experience growing and going to school in a gender language (not Spanish btw), grammar classes are way more intense and thorough than for something like English. Most people don’t really have grammar classes in English speaking countries, while I studied it until the last year of high school…
More complex grammar certainly makes it more difficult to learn, even for native speakers.
Yes, that doesn't negate the fact that genderedness serves a purpose. It's not simply there to annoy language learners.
Of course. But I don’t think that’s the “purpose” of it. It’s good to remember that languages don’t have anything purposeful about them at all. Any characteristic in a language has use, but no purpose.
Like living beings languages evolve, and mutate, and useful traits stay behind and spread and less useful ones are forgotten.
Gender might sometimes be useful in those situations, but I would be skeptical it’s the main reason it appeared and kept being used.