There are these four sentences:
du bist der Schnellste
das Wichtigste ist die Ernährung
Das Beste, was er zu bieten hat, ist seine Wohnung.
Du bist echt die Beste
how do we determine the gender for superlative?
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1 Answer
The gender of gender-flexible items aligns to the gender of the noun they refer to. This is a general rule. But there are corner cases.
du bist der Schnellste
This refers to someone of arbitrary real-world gender. Arbitrary because of generic masculinum. While
du bist die Schnellste
refers to someone of female real-world gender.
das Wichtigste ist die Ernährung
This refers to things to consider, and it's das Ding. Hence neuter.
Das Beste was er zu bieten hat, ist seine Wohnung.
Same here.
Du bist echt die Beste.
Same as above, it's someone because of du, and that someone is explictly female.
— Always mark women as female. If you don't know the real-world gender, use generic masculinum. —
