2

Why are there word that exist in two versions where one version is male and the other is female. One example would be "Spalte". Spalte ist usually female. "die Spalte". But you can also say "der Spalt". Why does this happen and how does this work?

Grunzwanzling
  • 179
  • 6
  • 2
    related http://german.stackexchange.com/questions/230/why-do-we-have-two-equally-used-terms-for-toe – Takkat Jan 10 '17 at 10:55
  • 2
    Bei der Frage musste ich sofort an diesen schwäbischen Witz denken: https://youtu.be/5AwUAQyh_gg?t=31s (nach dem Witz folgt eine Erklärung für alle Nicht-Schwaben) – Iris Jan 10 '17 at 14:31
  • @Iris Ich versuche mir vorzustellen, dass das ein lustiger Witz gewesen wäre... – Tsundoku Jan 11 '17 at 16:47
  • 1
    »Spalte« exists only in female form: http://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/Spalte. »Spalt« is not the same word, it is another word, and it exists only in one version, which is male: http://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/Spalt. But there are lots of words that really have two or three genders like »Bookmark«: http://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/Bookmark. So your question is justified, but your "example" is not a real example for this feature. – Hubert Schölnast Jan 11 '17 at 19:05

2 Answers2

4

There are some words that don't have an unique gender. This may be caused by different reasons:

  • different gender in technical language

das Virus (technical) der/das Virus (colloquial)

  • regional differences in the used gender:

das Radio - (general)

der Radio - (more in southern germany)

It also sometimes happens, that words that look identical have a different meaning when used in a different gender:

das Moment - (momentum for example in physics)

der Moment - (moment as a short period of time)

also: Heide, Mangel, Laster, Tor, Verdienst, See, Kristall, Junge, ...

I have been looking this up in different books about German language and couldn't find a satisfying answer. Also I can't think of an explanation that is obvious for me as a native speaker aside from the regional differences.

Community
  • 1
Andi
  • 121
  • 4
-2

you are thinking in a wrong way. die Spalte is not the same as der Spalt. These are two different words. The word die Spalte describes a crack in a rock e.g., but the word der Spalt describes the space that results of die Spalte.

FrankAus5419135
  • 439
  • 2
  • 10
  • "Der Spalt/Die Spalte" is maybe not a good example but the question is still valid. What about der/die/das Joghurt or das/die Brezel? – Eller Jan 10 '17 at 13:56
  • why there are many forms, nobody can answer you ;) But in german we have many words, where the rules aren´t clear.

    It happend over the time, because the german language change a few times.

    Your question about rules ist simple. No. There are no rules. You have to know ;) But in the Duden you can find, if you aren´t sure.

    I know, it isn´t satisfactory, but this is german =)

    There you can find a list of words, where the german rules aren´t clear. http://www.duden.de/schwierige-woerter

     – FrankAus5419135 Jan 10 '17 at 13:59
  • 1
    @Eller, related: http://german.stackexchange.com/questions/29713/are-there-any-other-german-nouns-besides-joghurt-that-can-be-any-gender – Iris Jan 10 '17 at 16:02
  • @FrankAus5419135: The difference is not clear, also to me as a native German, please try to justiy your answer with references. – Thomas Jan 10 '17 at 18:03
  • Do you mean the difference between Die Spalte und der Spalt? – FrankAus5419135 Jan 10 '17 at 18:08
  • Even if the words "Spalte" and "Spalt" have meanings, where they cannot be used interchangeably (e.g. only "eine Spalte" means a column of text in typography), in the meaning of "gap" or "crack", they can both be used. I would however still not consider them two "versions" of the same word, but two different words with the same ethymological origin. – jarnbjo Jan 10 '17 at 18:18
  • @FrankAus5419135: Which difference else? Yes. – Thomas Jan 10 '17 at 18:19
  • @Thomas die Spalte means the whole crack in a rock and der Spalt only describes the gap between. You can See this at the Duden. – FrankAus5419135 Jan 10 '17 at 18:38
  • @FrankAus5419135: Please try to explain and reference in your answer, currently your answer is not qualified and simply not correct. Please check the Duden again. Probably there is a small difference in size of either but it is not correct that one is the consequence of the other. – Thomas Jan 10 '17 at 18:49
  • @Thomas i see what you mean, but i unterstand it different. – FrankAus5419135 Jan 10 '17 at 19:11
  • @FrankAus5419135: Ich habe gesehen, daß du sehr neu bist hier und auch schon sehr aktiv, das ist toll. Dennoch achte bitte darauf, was andere Benutzer dir raten, deine Antwort ist leider nicht ausreichend. Deshalb habe ich sie abgewertet. – Thomas Jan 10 '17 at 20:05
  • Zur Kenntnis genommen. – FrankAus5419135 Jan 10 '17 at 20:43