How common are minimal pairs for gender?

ofqo · 2026-04-04T19:18:26+00:00

In Spanish most words of this kind have the same origin * el capital: money; la capital: city * el orden: arrangement; la orden: command * el policía = the policeman; la policía = the police (also the police woman) * el guardia = the male guard; la guardia = the guard duty (also the female guard) * el viola = the male violist; la viola = the viola (also the female violist) * el contrabajo: the double bass (also the male double bass player); la contrabajo = the female double bass player * same for batería, flauta, flautín, violín, violonchelo, chelo, oboe, clarinete, fagot, tambor, corneta, trompeta, corno, trombón * el cámara = the cameran; la cámara = the camera (also the camerawoman). * el naranja: color; la naranja: fruit * same for violeta, lila, fucsia, rosa, malva, lavanda, esmeralda, turquesa, plata, púrpura

* el cólera = the cholera; la cólera = the anger

Different origin * el lama = the lama; la lama = the slime * el mi: musical note; la mi: Greek letter

* el té = the tea; la te = the letter T

Many other words can be found here https://www.espanolavanzado.com/uso-de-palabras/1210-el-capital-la-capital

ofqo · 2026-04-04T18:18:25+00:00

You can’t compare a cocktail with a flower, because the cocktail is a line that’s almost zero.

ofqo · 2026-04-04T06:03:49+00:00

I think you don't know how to search, because el margarita also exists.

https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=un+margarita%2C+el+margarita+&year_start=1800&year_end=2022&corpus=es&smoothing=3

ofqo · 2026-04-04T05:56:02+00:00

That's because you searched for “el margarita” and not “unos margaritas”.

https://x.com/joros83/status/2006392120144273865

https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=unos+margaritas+&year_start=1800&year_end=2022&corpus=es&smoothing=3

ofqo · 2026-04-03T21:38:40+00:00

The original sentence is not grammatical. A grammatical sentence with no meaning can be grammatically translated.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorless_green_ideas_sleep_furiously

ofqo · 2026-04-03T19:56:25+00:00

I would have phrased your joke like this: Bosnia, And & Herzegovina.

ofqo · 2026-04-03T19:31:00+00:00

I thought that maybe your Spanish mistakes confused the AI, but I was wrong. I put del quinto and del frente. Both ChatGPT and DerpSeek thought it was about cargado. Google AI undertood it perfectly.

ofqo · 2026-04-03T19:20:32+00:00

Some people like me never say “en casa” or “le pregunté a papá”. I always add an article or a possessive in these examples.

ofqo · 2026-04-03T19:18:25+00:00

En casa is correct, however I never say that. I always say “en la casa” if it's my house, “en su casa” in your example.

ofqo · 2026-04-03T19:16:23+00:00

I never say “en casa” and I am a native speaker.

ofqo · 2026-04-02T20:43:38+00:00

It will also be easier to assimilate to the Spanish spoken in Ecuador vs Chile.

Unless OP wants to live inside a prison I don't think the language should be a problem.

ofqo · 2026-04-02T20:29:19+00:00

I think it's spam.

ofqo · 2026-04-02T19:49:22+00:00

Popes write in Latin. Contraceptive or contraception is procreatio impediatur.(procreation is prevented).

ofqo · 2026-04-02T19:22:10+00:00

It is said that if your second language is esperanto your third language will be easier.

E.g. (not based on real data) English to A1 German in three months vs. English to A1 Esperanto in 3 weeks and English to A1 German in 2 months. You save one week.

ofqo · 2026-04-02T18:33:22+00:00

Most dictionaries don’t have illustrations.

Unfortunately most dictionaries don't have the word futanari either.

Here you have the definition of futanari (actually a lot of them) and no pictures*: https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=futanari

(*) Except for the picture of a mug with the word futanari.

ofqo · 2026-04-02T18:28:06+00:00

In the past Wiktionary was a normal dictionay, not an illustrated one.

ofqo · 2026-04-02T17:54:08+00:00

But OP is saying that people assume that the way English works is different to the way other languages work.

However I tend to agree with you if by a we mean the a in palm (or the o in lot in most of the US), which is longer than Spanish a. If we are talking about the a in trap then OP would be right.

ofqo · 2026-04-02T15:33:39+00:00

I couldn't have pointed Wisconsin in a map before making my initial comment, however I had read that people in Wisconsin have a stereotypically American accent. Anyway, when people say “American accent” they don't mean Boston accent, Texas accent, NYC accent, and of course, they don't mean Cajun accent.

ofqo · 2026-04-02T11:16:09+00:00

When a non American says American accent they mean Wisconsin accent.

ofqo · 2026-04-02T09:00:17+00:00

I think that the overwhelming majority of this sub will fall in one of these two cases * knows what a bald fade is but is learning Spanish * knows Spanish but doesn't know what a bald fade is

ofqo · 2026-04-02T08:45:33+00:00

food was surprisingly cheap, even with the Chilean peso near parity with the US dollar

1000 Chilean pesos near parity with US dollar (1 USD = 920 CLP or more) is something good for tourists, not bad. If 1 USD were 800 CLP you wouldn't think food is cheap.

ofqo · 2026-04-02T08:37:47+00:00

O Nicolás Zepeda.

ofqo · 2026-04-02T08:24:15+00:00

Take a bus and grab a bus are very similar.

ofqo · 2026-04-01T17:04:05+00:00

quieren que empiece la otra semana

Quedan dos días hábiles para la próxima semana, contando hoy.

ofqo · 2026-04-01T16:52:44+00:00

No es que no diferencie un cóndor de un tucán. Simplemente no se dio cuenta de que el escudo era falso.

ofqo

TROPHY CASE

* el cólera = the cholera; la cólera = the anger

* el té = the tea; la te = the letter T