female form for ''motorrijder''?

by **Fria** » April 15th, 2010, 3:17 pm

This is not strictly for exam, but I'm curious: how do you call a female ''motorrijder''?
I don't mean biker chick (as in decor for a biker) :-P

Cos Germans have Motorradfahrer, and Fahrer also has the form Fahrerin :!:

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by **falcybe** » April 15th, 2010, 5:26 pm

rijd·ster de; v -s vrl rijder

vind je in het Van Dale maar niet motorrijdster, hoewel daar vind je motorrijder.

by **Quetzal** » April 15th, 2010, 5:46 pm

German is extremely consistent about such things, and always has separate masculine and feminine words. In Dutch, we sometimes have them and sometimes not, and even when they exist, we don't always use them (for instance, "directeur" means "headmaster of a school" or "chief / board member of a company", and while "directrice", the feminine version, exists, some women insist on being called "directeur"). In the case of "motorrijdster", you can certainly say that if you want to stress that you're talking about a female motorcycle rider, but "motorrijder" in general covers both men and women.

by **Fria** » April 15th, 2010, 6:05 pm

Thanks for explanation, we really always asked the teacher for female form and she was sometimes surprised about it.
I'm very interested in one more female form: is the of female form ''organisator'', ''organisatrice'' common or unusual?
Thanks alot!

by **BrutallyFrank** » April 17th, 2010, 11:47 am

'Organisatrice' is quite common.

by **Fria** » April 17th, 2010, 1:03 pm

Cool, this info is really useful, thanks again!

by **Wim** » April 18th, 2010, 10:36 am

Although there is a tendency in Dutch to use 'sexless' names for professions (compare the official term verpleegkundige to cover both male and female nurses), there may be another reason to call the directrice a directeur. The word directrice was often used mentioning the ladies in charge of (boarding) schools for girls and comparable institutions, and usually they were not very famous for their friendliness. Thus the directrice got an image like the notorious bad stepmother in fairy tales. Therefore, it should not surprise us that modern directrices (often real human beings!) prefer to be called a directeur.

Groetjes,
Wim

by **Fria** » April 18th, 2010, 12:38 pm

Oh, this reputation must really suck

I like the trend about 'sexless' names for professions - I'm not used to it, though, so I ask just in case

Oh, and I see you live in Den Haag, it's beautiful ... both modern archi and old houses :-D