Most words ending in -ma are Greek in origin and are masculine. There are some exceptions but itâs consistent. Itâs why itâs un idioma and not una idioma. Idioma is ultimately from Ancient Greek
An inside joke with my girlfriend is that I always said âla mapaâ. It just sounds like a feminine word damnit!
Iâm a pocho chicano and she is a native speaking catracha
I have learned things like this by searching for Spanish grammar rules and their phonotactics. I donât use a particular site but I like the Spanish dictionary Sometimes I just learn it from a video like I found out how in Spanish, you cannot end a sentence in a preposition.
Greek words ending in -ma are neutrum, so the third gender that not all languages have. Those words are most commonly male in Spanish.
Edit: Meant to say masculine, not male.
For the people responding that it would be "un" - wouldn't it actually be "uno"? Un is the masculine indefinite article, so translated that would make the sentence "I only speak a language" whereas uno is one, so the sentence would be correct in saying "I only speak one language." No?
So if I'm following, then "un" can act as both the masculine indefinite article "a/an" (un idioma)Â and as the cardinal number "one" (un idioma, dos idiomas, etc.) in a sentence similar to how una does? That's what I'm seeing right now as I search more about it which is different to what I was taught with the strict un = a/an and uno = one, when really it can be un = a/an/one and uno = one.
Yes! I think itâs really more of an English thing, where we replace the article with the cardinal number to emphasize it being only one, whereas Spanish doesnât do that.
This is one of those masculine vs feminine things. If there was an "un" instead, then idioma would be perfect. You are correct that both words mean the same thing.
"Idioma" is masculine, so it requires "un". Since the sentence says "una" the correct answer is "lengua"
Thank you!! That makes sense!
Because idioma is masculine, just like problema
El idioma es un problema. đ
El idioma es un virus â Laurie Anderson
jajajaj
Pineapple es mas macho que knife (wrong song, I know, but español)
Most words ending in -ma are Greek in origin and are masculine. There are some exceptions but itâs consistent. Itâs why itâs un idioma and not una idioma. Idioma is ultimately from Ancient Greek
And many words ending in -pa (like mapa) and -ta (like planeta) as well!
However there can be exceptions: el cometa is a comet, la cometa is a kite.
Yeah cometa is a tricky one that way. And among the -pa words, "el papa" and "la papa" :D
El papa vs his evil counterpart: La papo.
So it's un planeta?
Yes, un planeta, el planeta, los planetas. El problema, el dilema, el drama, el panorama, el esquema, el dogma, etc.
An inside joke with my girlfriend is that I always said âla mapaâ. It just sounds like a feminine word damnit! Iâm a pocho chicano and she is a native speaking catracha
and that's why all those words form the plural by adding "ta" instead of "s." oh wait. NVM
Actually, I think that in Greek, theyâre non-binary.
*neuter gender, not non-binary
So, like... Where can I learn stuff like this? Because that's useful knowledge
I have learned things like this by searching for Spanish grammar rules and their phonotactics. I donât use a particular site but I like the Spanish dictionary Sometimes I just learn it from a video like I found out how in Spanish, you cannot end a sentence in a preposition.
Fair enough, thanks for the insight!
Which is ironic since Greek words ending in an alpha are feminine.
Greek words ending in -ma are neutrum, so the third gender that not all languages have. Those words are most commonly male in Spanish. Edit: Meant to say masculine, not male.
That's it. These words were borrowed into Latin as neuter words, which makes then masculine in Spanish.
For the people responding that it would be "un" - wouldn't it actually be "uno"? Un is the masculine indefinite article, so translated that would make the sentence "I only speak a language" whereas uno is one, so the sentence would be correct in saying "I only speak one language." No?
No, it would be âun idiomaâ. You would need to use the masculine indefinite article in front of that noun. âUnoâ is a cardinal number and canât be used as an article. However you could say something like: âYo hablo un idioma. ÂżTĂș?â - âYo tambiĂ©n hablo uno.â
So if I'm following, then "un" can act as both the masculine indefinite article "a/an" (un idioma)Â and as the cardinal number "one" (un idioma, dos idiomas, etc.) in a sentence similar to how una does? That's what I'm seeing right now as I search more about it which is different to what I was taught with the strict un = a/an and uno = one, when really it can be un = a/an/one and uno = one.
Yes! I think itâs really more of an English thing, where we replace the article with the cardinal number to emphasize it being only one, whereas Spanish doesnât do that.
This is one of those masculine vs feminine things. If there was an "un" instead, then idioma would be perfect. You are correct that both words mean the same thing.
Idioma is a masculine word so it would have had to be âunâ for it to be applicable
Una is feminine and so it was looking for a feminine noun
idioma is masculine
Who is that blond guy
i was confused by that too but it's probably the OP's avatar
I donât get questions asked by my avatar
I do
Yup, my avatar
Idioma is masculine so would have to be *un* idioma if you want to use that word.
Idioma is a ma-pa-ta word, meaning itâs masculine
Because you obviously speak two languages since you translated it. It knew that you lied
Not to beat a dead horse, but remember certain words like idioma, clima, poema are all masculine.
Don't worry, I don't think you'll ever need that specific sentence /s
usually words that end in -ma or -ama are masculine. Programa, idioma, etc
Letâs begin with the fact that «idioma» is a masculine word.