Why don't we change the gender of "pessimista" following the gender of the people we describe?
Why do we say to a BOY?.. Come sei pessimista!
But not Come sei pessimisto? And I looked it up in the dictionary, nobody said, Sei pessimisto....
please notice that, here it is not a noun but an adjective...
Is that an exception of the rule of the matching of the gender between adjectives and nouns?
If it is, please show up more examples like this... in which the gender of the adj is set and not changed...
Plus, as for the proverb, "Sei acida veramente..."
Do Italians say "Sei acido veramente..." ?
LMAO! :)
Search from various English teachers...
Answers · 5
2
/pessimista/ comes from a so called 'production rule', where /pessimo/ is joined
to the suffix -ista, making a new word, with the 'literal' meaning:
person (from -ista) who deals with 'pessimo' (the worst);
the true meaning (as you know) is a little different.
Usually this kind of 'production rules' are stronger then other grammar rules, so the suffix
will not change in gender matching.
Another example: il farmacista, la farmacista (here with a noun).
1
The gender always changes, but you won't see any difference when masculine and feminine are identical as is the case in the singular forms of 'pessimista'. In other words, 'pessimista' is among the adjectives that use the endings 'a', 'a', 'i', 'e'.
Still haven’t found your answers?
Write down your questions and let the native speakers help you!
Don’t miss out on the opportunity to learn a language from the comfort of your own home. Browse our selection of experienced language tutors and enroll in your first lesson now!
Start Learning Today
