I only know some Arabic, Russian, and English, so I’m usually comfortable with just Russian and English. As someone who used to be transfem, I had to get used to changing the way I said things in Russian and Arabic now that I’m a man.
For example, if I was an alcoholic as a woman, in Russian I’d be алкоголичка, but as a man, I’d be алкоголик. If I’m tired now, I’d be устал, but as a woman, I’d have been устала.
In Arabic (Standard Arabic), if you want to ask a woman her name formally, you ask “ ما اسمك؟” (ma ismuki), but you say ma ismuka to a man.
Adjectives also change in Arabic. In Levantine Arabic, you’d say “ هو ذكي” (huwwe zaki) meaning “he is smart”, but for a woman, you’d say “ هي ذكية” (hiyye zakiyye)
Well, even though English grammar has dropped gender from pretty much everything save pronouns these days, there are still quite a lot of gendered nouns from times past left in the language, compare for example “I’m a father” vs. “I’m a mother” (vs. “I’m a parent”), or “I’m an actor” vs. “I’m an actress”. There are also some adjectives left that aren’t strictly gendered per se, but still tend to have gendered usage, compare for example “I’m handsome” vs. “I’m pretty”.
I only know some Arabic, Russian, and English, so I’m usually comfortable with just Russian and English. As someone who used to be transfem, I had to get used to changing the way I said things in Russian and Arabic now that I’m a man.
For example, if I was an alcoholic as a woman, in Russian I’d be алкоголичка, but as a man, I’d be алкоголик. If I’m tired now, I’d be устал, but as a woman, I’d have been устала.
In Arabic (Standard Arabic), if you want to ask a woman her name formally, you ask “ ما اسمك؟” (ma ismuki), but you say ma ismuka to a man.
Neat! The only English word I can think of like that is “his blond” and “her blonde” pubes
In actual Egyptian Arabic, you’d say, اسْمَك إِيْه؟ (ismak eh) to a man. It’s written the same when said to a woman, but it’s ismik eh.
In Levantine Arabic (I guess i’d be of Levantine descent), you’d say (casually) شو اسمك؟ (shu ismak/shu ismik to a woman)
Adjectives also change in Arabic. In Levantine Arabic, you’d say “ هو ذكي” (huwwe zaki) meaning “he is smart”, but for a woman, you’d say “ هي ذكية” (hiyye zakiyye)
Well, even though English grammar has dropped gender from pretty much everything save pronouns these days, there are still quite a lot of gendered nouns from times past left in the language, compare for example “I’m a father” vs. “I’m a mother” (vs. “I’m a parent”), or “I’m an actor” vs. “I’m an actress”. There are also some adjectives left that aren’t strictly gendered per se, but still tend to have gendered usage, compare for example “I’m handsome” vs. “I’m pretty”.
Touche!! Thanks for that