Language/Burmese/Grammar/Gender

Burmese Grammar - Gender

Hi Burmese learners! 😊
In this lesson, we will explore the topic of gender in the Burmese language. Gender is an important aspect of language learning, as it helps to convey meaning and detail. Understanding gender in Burmese will enable you to speak more fluently and naturally, and to express yourself with greater precision.

Finish this lesson and explore these related pages: 0 to A1 Course & Conditional Mood.

What is Gender?

Gender, in the context of language, refers to the classification of nouns into masculine, feminine, or neutral categories. In Burmese, gender is determined by a combination of factors, including the form of the noun, the context in which it is used, and the speaker's intention.

Burmese is a gender-neutral language, meaning that there is no explicit differentiation between masculine and feminine nouns. However, Burmese does have a distinction between animate and inanimate nouns, which can be thought of as a kind of gender differentiation. Animate nouns are those that refer to living things, while inanimate nouns are those that refer to non-living things.

For example:

Burmese	Pronunciation	English
မိန်း	min	animate noun - cat
ကြီး	kyi:	animate noun - bird
လူ	lu	animate noun - person
အမျိုးသား	a.mjui.tha:	animate noun - man
ကျား	tɕa	animate noun - woman
ပိတ်	peik	inanimate noun - table
ပစ္စည်း	paik.saɲ	inanimate noun - product

Note that the nouns in the first five rows are animate, and those in the last two are inanimate. The distinction between animate and inanimate is important in Burmese grammar, particularly in relation to the use of pronouns and verbs.

Personal Pronouns

In Burmese, personal pronouns are not gendered. The same pronoun is used to refer to a man, a woman, or a person of indeterminate gender.

Burmese	Pronunciation	English
ငါ	ŋà	I, me
သူ	θù	he, she, him, her
သားလည်း	θá.láɪ:	they, them

The word သူ (θù) can be translated as either "he" or "she", depending on the context in which it is used. This lack of gender differentiation is a notable feature of Burmese grammar, and reflects the culture's more fluid approach to gender roles and identity.

Verbs

Burmese verbs are not conjugated according to gender. The same verb form is used for both masculine and feminine subjects. For example, the verb "to eat" is စား (sa), which is used in the same form for both the masculine and feminine.

Burmese	Pronunciation	English
ငါ စားလို့ရပါတယ်	ŋà sa.leɪ.ra ba.tɔ	I am eating.
အမျိုးသား စားလို့ရပါတယ်	a.mjuitha: sa.leɪ.ra ba.tɔ	He/She is eating.

The plural form of verbs is also the same for both animate and inanimate nouns. For example:

Burmese	Pronunciation	English
အမျိုးသားတိုင်းများ စားလို့ရပါတယ်	a.mjuitha: tɪɴ mjá ma: sa.leɪ.ra ba.tɔ	They (men and women) are eating.
ပစ္စည်းတိုင်းများ ရွှေးချယ်ရပါတယ်	paik.sañ tɪɴ mjá hke:tʃa jɪn ba.tɔ	They (products) are being shipped.

Adjectives

In Burmese, adjectives are not gendered. The same adjective is used to describe a masculine or feminine subject.

Burmese	Pronunciation	English
ပျော်ရွှင်း	pja̰.ʃwɪ́ɴ	beautiful
လူများလား	lu mja.lá	happy
သမီးတစ်ယောက်	θa.miː tə jɔʊʔ	a pretty woman
နှလုံးအားလေး	n̥əlóʊɴ à lé	handsome men

As you can see from the examples above, the adjectives are not gendered, and the same form is used for all subjects.

Dialogue

To help illustrate gender in Burmese, let's take a look at a dialogue between two Burmese speakers:

• Person 1: မင်္ဂလာပါ။ (ming:laga ba) - Hello!
• Person 2: မင်္ဂလာပါ။ ဘယ်ကောင်လဲ။ (ming:laga ba bɛdʒàuɴ lé) - Hello! How are you?
• Person 1: ငါကောင်မရှိပါ။ သူကင်တို့လား။ (ŋà kàuɴ m̥əʃà ba. θù kʊɴ tɔ̰ la) - I am fine. How about you guys?
• Person 2: ကျွန်ပြန်တို့လား။ (tɕʰəɴ pjàn təlaɪ) - We are good too.
• Person 1: အရမ်းစားဖို့ လိုက်ပါတယ်။ (ajáɴ sá.leɪ.pʰo̰ léɪʔoʊʔ kɛ ba.tɔ) - Let's have dinner.

In this dialogue, you can see that there are no gendered pronouns used. The same pronouns are used to refer to both the male and female speakers.

Cultural Insights

Gender is an important aspect of language, and can reveal much about the culture and values of a society. In Burmese culture, gender is not viewed as a rigid or binary concept, but as a more fluid and flexible one. Burmese women have traditionally held a more egalitarian position in society than in many other cultures, and a strong emphasis is placed on mutual respect and equality in relationships.

The Burmese language reflects these cultural values, by avoiding the use of gendered language. This approach reinforces the idea that gender is not a fixed or limiting category, but instead reflects the nuanced and multifaceted nature of human identity.

Learning Tips

To improve your understanding of Burmese grammar, practice using gender-neutral language when speaking and writing. This will help you to internalize the grammar rules, and to communicate more naturally and fluently in Burmese.

To further improve your knowledge of Burmese, you can also use the Polyglot Club website. Find native speakers and ask them any questions!

If you are interested in further exploring Burmese Burmese grammar, consider taking classes or hiring a private tutor.

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➡ If you have any questions, please ask them in the comments section below.
➡ Feel free to edit this wiki page if you think it can be improved. 😎

Sources

• Grammar of the Burmese Language - Wikisource, the free online ...
• Burmese language - Wikipedia

• Culture of Burma
• Gender
• Gender neutrality

Other Lessons

• Conditional Mood
• Pronouns
• Future Tense
• How to Use Be
• Questions
• Give your Opinion
• Nouns
• Plurals
• Adjectives