What is the grammatical gender of dog? - briefly
The grammatical gender of "dog" is masculine in most languages that use grammatical genders. However, it can be feminine in some cases, such as in German ("die Hündin").
What is the grammatical gender of dog? - in detail
The grammatical gender of the word "dog" in English is neutral, meaning it does not have a specific masculine or feminine form. In English, nouns do not typically carry grammatical gender in the way they do in languages like French, German, or Spanish. This lack of inherent gender in English nouns simplifies language learning and usage, as there are no grammatical agreements based on gender to consider.
However, when referring to a specific dog, one can use pronouns such as "he," "she," or "it" to indicate the gender of the animal. For example, if the dog is known to be male, one would say "He is a friendly dog." If it is female, "She is a playful dog" would be appropriate. In cases where the sex of the dog is unknown or irrelevant, "It is a loyal companion" can be used.
In contrast, many other languages assign a grammatical gender to nouns, which affects the agreement of adjectives, articles, and sometimes verbs. For instance, in Spanish, "perro" (dog) is masculine, while "perra" (bitch) is feminine. This distinction does not exist in English, where "dog" remains gender-neutral regardless of context.
In summary, the grammatical gender of "dog" in English is neutral, and specific gender references are made through pronouns or additional descriptive words when necessary.