22 Comments
Is the nő suffixe appended to all professions when discussing a female worker? Also I'm not sure if I should report a mistake or not, I wrote 'the actor is tall' because in English both 'actor' and 'actress' are correct designation for a female actor.
I think here on Duo you should stick to "actress" if it's explicitly stated that it's a színésznő, just to maintain consistency.
And yes, "-nő" can be added to most if not all of the professions, but we don't always make a difference. Színésznő, titkárnő (secretary), pincérnő (waitress), ápolónő (nurse) -- these are for example generally used in this form when referring to a woman. In professions where women are less represented, it's less important to add "-nő" (since the base form isn't explicitly for men anyway): rendőr(nő) (police officer/policewoman), tűzoltó(nő) (firefighter/firewoman), mérnök(nő) (engineer; though I saw Duo teaching "mérnöknő")
Also, an interesting one is "óvónő" (kindergarten teacher), because "óvó" is not a profession. The male form could be "óvóbácsi", where "bácsi" is an affectionate name for elderly men, or from children's point of view for any adult man. The female version of "bácsi" is "néni".
The word itself can mean "guardian" or "protector", but nobody works as an óvó. It's simply not the name of any profession. And that's why "kindergarten teacher" doesn't follow the pattern of my other examples.
Ah, thanks! Come to think of it, you can be a fireman or a firewoman ... but you can't just be a fire ... so we say firefighter. ;-)
Quite common, but, unfortunately, there is no logical system when to use/create a gender profession, e.g.:
president - elnök / elnöknő
driver, leader - vezető (no female version)
head of department - osztályvezető / osztályvezetőnő
manager - igazgató / igazgatónő
kindergarten teacher - (no male version) / óvónő
Yes the designation 'actor' is now the accepted gender neutral standard in English. I found it awkward to reword in order to move on the the next level.
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There was no word actress there to choose, but as there is a word actress in English I have never heard anyone use female actor. It may be fine in Hungarian because that is how it is done but not in english
A woman who acts is either an "actress" or an "actor" - but not a "female actor".
The verb VAN is omitted when you describe someone's qualities.
A színésznő magas (her quality) A színésznő itt van (not her quality)
The actress could be tall in height as well as big in the sense of famous or outstanding
just physically tall in height
a similar expression to what you're looking for is "magasra tör" meaning: getting famous/powerful
