In limba engleza, substantivele si, implicit, adjectivele nu au gen. Nu exista categoria asta gramaticala, in limba engleza.
E adevarat ca din intrebare nu se intelege prea bine ce se doreste, dar asta nu inseamna ca trebuie sa venim cu perle, cum ar fi aceea ca in limba engleza substantivele nu au gen. Adjectivele sunt intr-adevar invariabile in gen si numar (cu exceptia lui "this"-plural "these" si "that"-plural "those"), dar substantivele au gen (masculin, feminin si neutru).
Eu ma refeream la gen din pdv gramatical, nu implicit. Adica, genul ala care, in romana, in franceza, in italiana etc te obliga sa folosesti o anumita forma a adjectivului, sa faci acord intre substantiv si adjectiv. Adica genul ala care, in dictionare, este notat cu f, m sau n.
Eu am dedus ca intrebarea se refera la genul din pdv gramatical, nu asa...de amorul artei.
Dupa cum bine ai spus, in engleza nu se pune problema acordului intre substantiv si adjectiv, in functie de gen, dar asta nu inseamna ca nu este necesara cunosterea genului substantivului (din punct de vedere gramatical, nu de amorul artei). De unde stii, de exemplu, ce pronume folosesti ca sa inlocuiesti un anume substantiv, daca nu-i stii genul? Cum stii daca trebuie sa folosesti "he", "she" sau "it"? Ori, de exemplu, cand folosesti "his" si cand folosesti "her"? In plus, genul nu e implicit in toate cazurile. Uneori (de cele mai multe ori) substantivele au aceeasi forma la masculin si feminin (cousin, rider, parent etc), alteori au forme diferite (brother/sister, uncle/aunt etc), alteori femininul se formeaza plecand de la masculin (actor/actress etc). Ca sa nu mai vorbim de cazuri mai speciale, cum ar fi "death" - masculin, tari (desemnate prin numele lor) - in mod normal considerate de genul feminin, "ship" - feminin si multe altele, pentru care stabilirea genului nu este chiar asa de facila pentru un strain care invata limba engleza.
Ship, fiind un obiect nu este referit prin "it"? "The ship sunk" ->"It sunk". Acum, ca lor le place sa se refere cateodata la nave, la masini, la avioane, ca si cum ar fi persoane de gen feminin, asta e cu totul altceva. Ca exemplu, luand randurile de mai sus, daca ar fi raspuns un marinar din echipaj, ar fi zis probabil " She sunk...".
While grammatical gender was a fully productive inflectional category in Old English, Modern English has a much less pervasive gender system, primarily based on natural gender.[3]
There are a few traces of gender marking in Modern English:
Some loanwords inflect according to gender, such as actor/actress, where the suffix -or denotes the masculine, and the suffix -ress denotes the feminine.
The third person singular pronouns (and their possessive forms) are gender specific: "he/his" (masculine gender, overall used for males), "she/her(s)" (feminine gender, for females), "it/its" (neuter gender, mainly for objects and abstractions), "one/one's" (common gender, for anyone or anything).
But these are insignificant features compared to a typical language with grammatical gender:
English has no live productive gender markers. An example is the suffix -ette (of French provenance), but it is seldom used, and mostly with disparaging or humorous intent.
The English nouns that inflect for gender are a very small minority, typically loanwords from non-Germanic languages (the suffix -ress in the word "actress", for instance, derives from Latin -rix via French -rice). Feminine forms of Latin-derived words may also use -rix, as in aviatrix.
The third-person singular forms of the personal pronouns are the only modifiers that inflect according to gender.
It is also notewortHi that, with few exceptions, the gender of an English pronoun coincides with the real gender of its referent, rather than with the grammatical gender of its antecedent, frequently different from the former in languages with true grammatical gender. The choice between "he", "she" and "it" invariably comes down to whether they designate a male or female human or animal of a known sex, or something else.
[edit] Exceptions
Animals are generally referred to as it unless the gender is known. Some animals such as cattle and chickens have different words for male and female animals (bull and cow, rooster and hen, for example) and he and she are therefore used correspondingly. The gender of other animals such as rabbits, insects, etc. is not usually obvious and so these animals are usually referred to as it except in some veterinarian or literary contexts. Alternatively, the use of "it" referring to an animal may imply the speaker lacks or disdains emotional connection with the animal. Thus, even though pHisical gender is undetermined, Rabbits for Dummies advises "You can win your bunny over to the point where he's incredibly comfortable with you."[9]
The pronoun "she" is sometimes used to refer to things which can contain people such as countries, ships, or vehicles, or when referring to certain other machines. This, however, is considered a stylistically marked, optional figure of speech, and may reflect a tendency of early translators to reflect grammatical gender in the original language. This theory is strengthened by the fact that in many classical and modern languages the word for e.g. "ship" (Hebrew אניה, Greek ἡ νaῦς, Latin navis, Spanish la nave, Czech loď) or "city" (Hebrew עיר, Greek ἡ πόλις, Latin vrbs, Sanskrit पुर्, Spanish la urbe, German die Stadt, Irish cathair) is in the feminine gender. This usage is furthermore in decline and advised against by most journalistic style guides such as The Chicago Manual of Style.[10] If used, the terms she, her, and hers apply regardless of the entity's name – for example, "The U.S.S. John F. Kennedy (CVA-67) was laid down October 22, 1964. She was launched on April 1, 1967... "
courtesy of wikipedia
Copy/Paste din postarea ta: "The pronoun "she" is sometimes used to refer to things which can contain people such as countries, ships, or vehicles, or when referring to certain other machines." E adevarata si urmarea: "This, however, is considered a stylistically marked, optional figure of speech, and may reflect a tendency of early translators to reflect grammatical gender in the original language". Ca unii se declara impotriva acestui mod de exprimare, e posibil. ("This usage is furthermore in decline and advised against by most journalistic style guides such as The Chicago Manual of Style." Ai dreptate, trebuie punctat: vapoarele si uneori alte vehicule, fata de care exista o legatura privilegiata, sunt considerate ca avand genul "feminin". Spunem, de exemplu: The ship struck an iceberg which tore a huge hole in HER side. Chiar si in exemplul tau, ai "She was launched..." (chiar daca nava este un obiect si poarta numele unui barbat, referirea se face la genul feminin si nu neaparat de catre un membru al echipajului).
Ma refeream la faptul ca nu prea se mai foloseste inlocuirea obiectului respectiv cu pronume feminin, si unde am vazut folosindu-se, in general in filme ori mai vechi, ori in care actiunea se petrecea in trecut. Nu este obligatoriu, si vad ca zic in articolul de pe wikipedia ca este recomandat sa nu mai inlocuiesti cu "she/her/s" in cazul descris mai sus. Dar asa este, nu neaparat un membru al echipajului, implicit mi s-a parut logic ca ei sa foloseasca cel mai mult inlocuirea, de aici si exemplul cu marinarul.
Aşa e, nu se pot forma cu "he", "she", "it" dacă nu au aşa zisul gen. Dar la ce se referă ardnaxur1961 este că dacă nu poţi determina genul adjectivelor "He is smart" e identic cu "She is smart" nu ca în română "El e deştept", "Ea e deşteaptă" sau în franceză "Il est intelligent", "Elle este intelligente", în egleză e diferit.