Preliminary Recommendations

 

Gender

CELEX distinguishes five basic gender tags. Apart from these, a number of combinations of these five tags are also possible (double tags).

Attribute Value Du. example Du. tag

Gender masculine wijn m.

feminine ruimte v.

neuter vertrek o.

fem.(masc) bierhal v.(m.)

context gelovige m.-v.

The fourth category is: female nouns which can be treated as male.

The fifth category is: nouns whose gender is context-dependent. These are, for example, Adjectives and Present and Past participles used as nouns. Referential characteristics, such as possessive nouns in the near context or other contextual factors must be used to help decide on the respective gender, as in the following:

De gelovige heeft een kaars in haar handen.

The worshipper holds a candle in her hands.

Here, `gelovige' (worshipper) is feminine. However, in the following:

``De gelovige heeft een kaars in zijn handen''

`The worshipper holds a candle in his hands'

`gelovige' (worshipper) is masculine.

See also Language-specific features.