Der Lerner, die Lernerin
How does grammatical gender interact with the actual gender of individual humans sapient entities? Often, a noun that refers to a type of person will have both a masculine and a feminine form.
| Masculine | Feminine | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
der Mann | die Frau | the man/woman |
der Student | die Studentin | the university student |
der Arzt | die Ärztin | the doctor |
der Paläoastrobiologe | die Paläoastrobiologin | the paleoastrobiologist |
Pretty straightforward! Not all person words follow this pattern, though. For example, das Mädchen is always neuter as a -chen word, even though it refers specifically to girls. Similarly, die Person and der Mensch are feminine and masculine respectively, even though they both just refer to people in general.