masculinenimate

Masculinenimate is a grammatical term used to describe nouns of masculine gender that are marked as animate in the morphological system of certain languages. The distinction between masculine animate and masculine inanimate nouns is important for agreement patterns in case, number, and gender, as well as for the formation of declined forms and the application of case rules.

In many Indo‑European languages, such as Ancient Greek, Latin, and the Slavic group, masculine animate nouns receive different case endings from masculine inanimate nouns. For example, in Russian, the nominative singular of the animate noun *стол* (table) is *стол*, but the accusative singular is *стол*, whereas the animate noun *муж* (husband) has the nominative *муж* and the accusative *мужа* with a different ending. Polish applies a similar pattern: *dom* (house) has nominative *dom* and accusative *dom*, while *mąż* (husband) has nominative *mąż* and accusative *męża*. In Latin, masculine animate nouns in the accusative singular take the regular nominative ending (e.g., *rex* → *rex*), while inanimate nouns take the genitive singular form (e.g., *templum* → *templum* in both cases, but distinctions appear in other declensions).

The masculine animate/inanimate distinction also affects adjective and pronoun agreement. When the noun is animate, adjectives and pronouns may take an animate form; when inanimate, they take an inanimate form. This feature is central to semantic accounting for the presence of human or nonhuman entities and is studied in morphology, syntax, and historical linguistics.