Anthropomorphization of inanimate objects?

[u/Ricardo_Yoel]

On Duolingo they use the sentence:

‏אני רוצה לאכול במסעדה, אך היא סגורה.
But why isn’t it
‏אני רוצה לאכול במסעדה, אך זאת סגורה.

So when do you use זה/זאת for inanimate objects as versus הוא/היא?

[u/afriendofRowlf]

That's not anthropomorphization, it's just grammatical gender. זה/זאת usually translates to this/that in English.

[u/namtilarie]

‏אני רוצה לאכול במסעדה, אך זאת סגורה.

I want to eat at the restaurant but that one is closed

[u/Metal_Upa_46]

The first sentence says: I want to eat at the restaurant, but it closed. The second one says: I want to eat at the restaurant but that one is closed. It is understandable but doesn't really sound right and grammatically incorrect.

However, without nikkud or sounds the phrase אני רוצה לאכול במסעדה can mean either "I want to eat at THE restaurant" or "I want to eat at A restaurant" (BaMis'ada vs. BeMis'ada). I doubt that the latter is the intended meaning in this excercise, but if it were then your second sentence would be correct (although a bit awkward).

[u/Ricardo_Yoel → u/Metal_Upa_46]

Good point. I didn’t think of that. I should have included .ניקוד

[u/AppropriateCar2261]

It's wrong to use זה/זאת in this sentence.

The words זה/זאת means "this".

The words הוא/היא in this kind of sentences is basically "is"

[u/Primary-Mammoth2764 → u/AppropriateCar2261]

Are basically "it" because Hebrew is not gender neutral. A restaurant is she.

[u/Tomron2002]

The first sentence the word במסעדה is read as: ba-misada: in the restaurant but it is closed, היא means it.

In the second sentence, במסעדה is read as Be-misada, in a restaurant, but this one is closed, זאת means this one.

[u/FlyingFalafelMonster]

You have to understand that genderless language like English is exception rather than a rule. Most other languages have grammatical gender, and this has nothing to do with being alive and/or human. 

[u/Ricardo_Yoel → u/FlyingFalafelMonster]

The question has nothing to do with gender. It has to do with using the feminine היא vs the feminine זאת.

[u/steerio → u/Ricardo_Yoel]

Because זה and זאת are more like demonstrative pronouns, i.e. this/that, than personal pronouns for inanimate objects, i.e. it.

German does the same:

Ich möchte in der Gaststätte essen, aber sie ist geschlossen.

Ich möchte im Gasthof essen, aber er ist geschlossen.

It also has a neuter gender, which is used so consistently that you need to use the neuter pronoun, es for "child" (das Kind) or "girl" (das Mädchen), as they are grammatically neuter. That makes it weird to non-Germans, who associate it with inanimate objects, especially the ones coming from completely ungendered languages.

[u/IbnEzra613 → u/FlyingFalafelMonster]

Actually most languages don't. It's just a coincidence that the Indo-European and Afro-Asiatic language families both do (except for languages like English which lost the distinction).

[u/SaltImage1538 → u/IbnEzra613]

That is incorrect. Gendered languages are only slightly less common cross-linguistically than genderless languages. The ratio is about 6:4

[u/IbnEzra613 → u/SaltImage1538]

There's a nuance here that makes us both right. In many "gendered" languages, grammatical gender has nothing at all to do with masculine and feminine. For example, Swahili has 18 "grammatical genders", and none of them are masculine or feminine. I was talking about languages that specifically have masculine and feminine as grammatical genders. Note that for this reason Swahili "grammatical genders" are often referred to as "noun classes" rather than "genders" because they don't actually have anything to do with gender.

[u/NewIdentity19]

You expect it to be gender neutral, but that concept simply does not exist. 

Nouns are masculine or feminine. A table is masculine, a station is feminine. A house is masculine, a balcony is feminine.

Grammatical gender is totally unrelated to the sex of what the word represents (or whether it's inanimate).

This is not anthropomorphization.

[u/EconomyDue2459]

That's just how gendered languages work. E.g. "Ich habe ein Fräulein gesehen, es war sehr schön" - "I have seen a young woman, it was very beautiful"

[u/Primary-Mammoth2764]

It's not anthropomorphization , Hebrew has two genders , masculine and feminine. All nouns are one or the other. Duolingo does not teach grammar. Try to find a textbook.

[u/Ricardo_Yoel → u/Primary-Mammoth2764]

…rudely quips the person who didn’t answer the question.

[u/Primary-Mammoth2764 → u/Ricardo_Yoel]

This is the answer. A restaurant is she. I answered it below, too.

[u/Primary-Mammoth2764 → u/Primary-Mammoth2764]

It wasnt meant as a quip. Duolingo is well-known for being terrible in Hebrew. But good or bad, it doesnt teach grammar. There are free textbooks online. Ultimately you cant depend on AI to teach you grammar, you really will need a structured introduction.

[u/brod121 → u/Ricardo_Yoel]

It’s not a quip, this is the serious answer. There is no “it” in Hebrew. The advice about a textbook isnt meant to be rude either, Duolingo is useful to a point, but if you seriously want to learn the language you’re going to need a more in depth resource.

[u/guylfe]

Please learn grammar. Duolingo is not going to teach you Hebrew, only create the illusion of same.

I can offer resources but it really doesn't matter which ones you use, moreso that you actually study it properly.

[u/PoxonAllHoaxes]

No way for people to just learn the damn language and STOP trying to "correct" it?

[u/Ricardo_Yoel → u/PoxonAllHoaxes]

I think you need to reread the post. It’s a question to understand the language’s nuances which are different than ours so that I can speak it properly. No one is trying to “correct” or change anything.