- Forum >
- Topic: Italian >
- Sei una tigre
Sei una tigre
If somebody would like to say to a male person: "You are a tiger" would you have to say "Sei una tigre" ?
29 Comments
Yep, same happens in Spanish and any language that uses gendered articles for that matter :)
Chyaarisan, I think you are quite right. In Spanish we have some examples: (una) tortuga=turtle, (una) gacela=gazelle, (una) jirafa=giraffe, (una) ballena=whale. We don't say for a male: (un) tortugo, (un) gacelo, (un) jirafo, (un) balleno. If we really want to specify whether it is a male or female animal, we would say: "una tortuga macho", "una tortuga hembra", "una gacela macho", "una gacela hembra". For some animals we DO have: (un) leon, (una) leona; (un) tigre, (una) tigresa, (un) perro, (una) perra.... Why? I don't know it is just the way it is.
in Spanish for a man you say "sos un tigre", while for a woman you would say "sos una tigresa", so its not the same as in Italian
"sos" is used only in Argentina. It would be "Eres un tigre" and "Eres una tigresa".
Polish also uses "tygrys" and "tygrysica" when referring to the male and the female
The article sticks to the gender of the word, not to the person who are you reffering to. So, yeah, sei una tigre.
Or more often, it's used by a woman to describe a man's masculinity....i.e. How good he is in bed!!!! lol
maybe.... if you're playing a role play with children.. :) "you're a tiger, you're a bear and I'm a ant" :D
It's a metaphore, impling that you are very brave, or strong, or fast or whatever a tiger is
but this Italian program says that tigre is masculine, and then at another point that it is feminine...no way to tell from a simple sentence this is a tiger whether it is male or female and this program marks it both ways
If someone were to say "You are a tiger" while in Italy, you'd be laughed at at best. Really, "Tiger?" Tigre is one of the last words one needs to learn if one is attempting Italian. Same with Whale and Shark. I've been to Italy a dozen times and the animals you need to learn are: Polpo, gamberini, calamari and others you'll find commonly on menus (octopus, shrimp, and squid). Also, cane (dog) because you'll see a lot of them roaming around. L'ape (bee) is good because the Apian Way in Roma is named for bees (common to see emblazoned on architecture in Vatican too).
Yea you'll never go to a zoo. You'll never go to the Colosseum and hear or read about the tigers unleashed there. You'll never read an Italian wildlife magazine or brochure.
Fact is: learning any vocab is important because you never know what you'll need or when you'll need it
I think his point is that tiger seems an odd choice when there are many other animal names which carry more relevance. I am in Italy right now and I concur with him. And tigre is also quite obviously tiger... just saying ;)
sei una tigre to a man too? I thought una is only for female gender like in Spanish.
Remember that in Spanish we say to a slow MAN or WOMAN: eres una tortuga=sei una tartaruga=you are a turtle. and we say to a fast man or woman: eres una liebre=sei una lepre=you are a hare.
