Animacy / Humanness
Is the participant human, living, or non-living?
Bedeutung
A feature that can influence grammar depending on whether a participant is human, animate, animal, object, abstract, or respected.
So erkennst Du es
Notice whether people and living beings behave differently from objects in the sentence.
Beispiele
person|dog|tree|stone|idea
a person vs a thing|who vs what
I saw Maria at the station.
Visual guide
participant: Maria / dog / stone
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animacy feature
human? animal? thing? idea?
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grammar may change:
pronoun, object marker,
honorific, plural
same role: object of 'saw' I saw Maria. human I saw a dog. animate I saw a stone. thing Some languages: higher animacy -> extra marking lower animacy -> less/no marking who? vs what?
Sprachansicht
In deiner Sprache
Animacy is not a central grammatical case system, though human reference affects word choice and pronouns.
Der Mensch ist hier.
The person is here.
In deiner Lernsprache
Animacy and masculine-personal status affect case and plural agreement.
Widzę psa.
I-see dog-ANIM.
Learners miss why masculine objects sometimes look genitive.
New in your learning language
This block is more central in your learning language. Give it extra focus in examples and practice.