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Lesson 4A1

Family

परिवार

Dutch dropped the masculine/feminine split that most European languages keep for nouns — family words all take the same article, de, regardless of whether the person is male or female, unlike Hindi where every noun carries its own gender.

Grammar Comparison

व्याकरण तुलना

All common-gender nouns share one article: de

Dutch

de vader, de moeder, de broer, de zus — all use 'de'

Hindi

पिता, माता, भाई, बहन — हिंदी में हर शब्द का अपना लिंग होता है

Hindi marks masculine and feminine on almost every noun (पिता is masculine, माता is feminine, and this affects verb agreement too). Dutch merged its old masculine and feminine genders into a single 'common' gender centuries ago, so de vader ('the father') and de moeder ('the mother') both simply take de — the article gives you no clue about the person's actual gender, unlike Hindi where the noun's grammatical gender usually does line up with real-world gender for people.

Vocabulary

शब्दावली

DutchPronunciationHindiEnglish
de moederduh MOO-derमाताmātāmother
de vaderduh VAH-derपिताpitāfather
de broerduh broorभाईbhāībrother
de zusduh zusबहनbahansister
de omaduh OH-mahदादी / नानीdādī / nānīgrandmother
de opaduh OH-pahदादा / नानाdādā / nānāgrandfather
de zoonduh zohnबेटाbeṭāson
de dochterduh DOKH-terबेटीbeṭīdaughter