Human, animal or thing
Are we talking about a person, an animal, or a thing?
의미
Whether we are talking about a person, an animal, or a thing can affect the words and forms we choose. This can help us ask about it or connect it to a description. Languages draw these distinctions differently, and some do not mark them in grammar. Grammatical gender and noun classes covers groups of nouns that do not necessarily match these categories.
알아보는 방법
Compare how a language asks about or refers to people, animals, and things in otherwise similar sentences.
모국어에서는
Korean asks about people with 누구 and about things with 무엇 or the conversational 뭐. Counting words distinguish people, commonly 명, from animals, commonly 마리, and various kinds of objects. Respectful forms also distinguish people being honored, but ordinary nouns do not belong to grammatical male and female groups.
문 앞에 누가 있어요? (Mun ape nuga isseoyo?)
누가 is the subject form of 누구.
상자 안에 뭐가 있어요? (Sangja ane mwoga isseoyo?)
친구 두 명이랑 강아지 한 마리가 같이 왔어요. (Chingu du myeongirang gangaji han mariga gachi wasseoyo.)
명 counts people, while 마리 counts animals.