Translation from Italian - Nero and Nera?

[Wade]

I know that nero translates to the color black and according to Babelfish (http://babelfish.altavista.com/) so does nera. I'm familiar with noun genders (amico and amica) so am curious as to why Ferrari uses Nero and Ducati Nera (see file name below).

http://blog.ducati.com/uploads/nera416.jpg

But going through the Blog I see references to both;

http://blog.ducati.com/post/101/colori-1098

Anybody know, or am I just Babelling?

[MV-999R]

Because a car is masculine while a bike is feminine ;)

[apessino]

No, "car" is feminine as well in Italian (all words for car are feminine: la macchina, l'automobile, la vettura, etc.). There is no neutral form (it/its) in Italian, everything has to be either masculine or feminine, and adjectives (as well as articles) must have the same form as the noun they reference.

I don't think that's a coincidence that most objects of desire (bikes, cars, boats, etc.) are always feminine. :biggrin

If they are referring to the color of the car, Ferrari will use "nera" as well as Ducati does, but if you ask: what color is the car? Then the answer is "nero" (in this case the noun the adjective refers to is "color," which is masculine).

Easy, right?

[Wade]

Easy, right?

You mean nera is used when describing something with emotion or passion and nero is used with technical descriptions. No?

[apessino]

You mean nera is used when describing something with emotion or passion and nero is used with technical descriptions. No?

Not quite that poetic, I am afraid.

The car (or the bike) is feminine, so it is "nera." The color of the car is masculine, hence it is "nero." Unlike in English, in Italian adjectives and articles must follow the gender of the noun they refer to.

[Wade]

...must follow the gender of the noun they refer to.

Got it now, thanks!