Hinn 18. júní 2003 lét Teja Johnson-Lewis þetta frá sér fara:

> How can you tell masculne, feminine, and neuter words apart?

That's sort of the problem. You can't :)

Words ending with 'r' are usually masculine (like: haukr, geirr,
vinr, matr etc.). But then there are some that are feminine, like
'brúðr' and 'eyrr'. And some that are neuter, like 'mastr'.

Words ending with 'i' are often masculine (like: hani, Gísli,
speni). But a considerable number is neuter, like 'kvæði', and
another bunch is feminine, like 'elli'.

Words ending with 'a' are usually feminine (like: brynja, Þóra,
skessa) but some are neuter like 'eyra' and a couple are masculine;
Sturla.

Words ending in a generic (non-inflectional) consonant are often
neuter (like: gil, spjót, skip) or feminine (like: hlíf, hönd, snót)
but some are masculine, like 'jarl' or 'fogl'.

You get the picture. There's no way you can tell just from looking
at the dictionary form of a word which gender it belongs to. Sometimes
you can make an intelligent guess but in the end you'll always have to
memorize the gender along with the form itself.

And that isn't all. Even after you've found out that 'vinr' is a masculine
word you still don't know how to decline it. That's why the dictionary
doesn't just say:

vinr friend

but:

vinr (-ar, -ir), m. friend

The 'm' tells you that the word is masculine and the -ar and -ir are the
endings of the genitive singular and the nominative plural. If you know a
thing or two about ON inflections that's enough for you to figure out the
rest of the inflection.

The Germans have a rather clever way of indicating gender. They usually
present a noun with its definite article ('der' for masculine, 'die' for
feminine and 'das' for neuter). Thus you can memorize "das Kind" or
"der Kugelschreiber" and you'll remember the gender along with the word.

Adding the definitive article to ON words would serve to make the
gender clear in the same way. Maybe that's an idea.

Kveðja,
Haukur