Blog
Short articles exploring patterns and quirks across the dictionary.
- o problema, not a problema: Portuguese's Gender Exceptions a casa, o problema: Portuguese nouns ending in -a are supposed to be feminine, but o problema isn't alone -- dozens of everyday words break the rule in a handful of clear, learnable patterns.
- Reading Challenge: Die Verwandlung — Gregor Wakes Up as an Insect A 20-minute challenge: read the real opening of Franz Kafka's Die Verwandlung in German, using this site's gender colours and word-saving -- no simplification, the actual 1915 text.
- Reading Challenge: Dom Casmurro — How the Narrator Got His Nickname A 20-minute challenge: read the real opening of Machado de Assis's Dom Casmurro in Portuguese, using this site's gender colours and word-saving -- no simplification, the actual 1899 text.
- Reading Challenge: Don Quijote — An Unnamed Gentleman of La Mancha A 20-minute challenge: read the real opening of Cervantes's Don Quijote in Spanish, using this site's gender colours and word-saving -- no simplification, the actual 1605 text.
- Reading Challenge: Du côté de chez Swann — A Night of Half-Sleep and Memory A 20-minute challenge: read the real opening of Marcel Proust's Du côté de chez Swann in French, using this site's gender colours and word-saving -- no simplification, the actual 1913 text.
- Desafío de Lectura: Pride and Prejudice — La Señora Bennet Escucha un Chisme del Vecindario Un desafío de 20 minutos: lee un resumen en español de Pride and Prejudice de Jane Austen y luego el texto real en inglés, sin simplificar, con la herramienta de guardar vocabulario de esta página.
- la maison, not le maison: French's Other Gender Spelling Trap le bouton really is masculine. la maison looks like it should be too, but isn't -- because -son hides inside -on, and the two endings predict opposite genders. Here's the trap across four French endings.
- Donaudampfschifffahrtsgesellschaftskapitän: One Rule Behind Germany's Giant Words German doesn't borrow long words from Latin -- it just glues short ones together, as many as it needs. The grammar is almost too simple: whatever gender the pieces start with, the LAST one always wins.
- der Kuchen, not das Kuchen: German's Gender Spelling Traps das Mädchen ends in -chen and is neuter, just like the rule says. der Kuchen ends in the same four letters and is masculine. Here's the trap hiding behind five German gender patterns.
- Why Is problema Masculine? Spanish's Gender Exceptions la casa, el problema: Spanish nouns ending in -a are supposed to be feminine, but 191 of them aren't. Here's why, in four clear patterns.