++ [ originally posted by king Ale ] ++
so in most of languages it's different for male and female.
Which makes the best sense.
In Italy (and elsewhere obviously) someone asks me who I was speaking to just now on the phone:
In Italian, I say Alla mia amica (to my [female] friend)
in English, To my friend--which tells me nothing.
Italian is a language of rules---I can count exceptions on one hand.
English--EVERYTHING is an exception.
Which is why it really p***** me off when people give people who are new to English grief for not speaking it perfectly.
Give a person a few months--at most a year, and they can speak Italian like a native---
there are immigrants here who never get English right (not that that's any reflection on them)