# marry (man marries woman / woman marries man)



## kt_81

Hello! 

In Russian there are two ways to express that a couple marries. It depends on what one wants to say, or, to be exactly, the positions of the sentence objects.

[man] marries [woman]
In this case the verb "жениться" is used (жена = wife)

But in case of
[woman] marries [man]
one has to use the expression "выйти замуж" (муж = husband, literaly something like 'to go behind a/the husband'). Well, actually. Many people just use жениться in all cases and I catch myself doing so way too often. 

I wonder if there is something similar in other languages? I could imagine that at least the slavic ones use such constructions. Germanic and romance languages don't seem to have this 'feature', but what about f.e. Finnish and Hungarian? Or any asian languages?


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## roh3x2n

in farsi it it is the same.
Aroosi

as far as I know German and Hindu/Urdu it is the same.

German
Heiraten.

Hindi/Urdu 
Shaadi

i hope i didn't mess up.


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## Anatoli

*Chinese:
*Generic expression, doesn't require an object:结婚 / 結婚 jiéhūn* v.o. marry; get married

If talking about men:
 娶 [qǔ] marry (a woman), take a wife, get married

If talking about women:
嫁 [jià] (of a woman) marry

There is a number of other words with the same meaning in Chinese.


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## Thomas1

kt_81 said:


> In Russian there are two ways to express that a couple marries. It depends on what one wants to say, or, to be exactly, the positions of the sentence objects.
> 
> [man] marries [woman]
> In this case the verb "жениться" is used (жена = wife)
> 
> But in case of
> [woman] marries [man]
> one has to use the expression "выйти замуж" (муж = husband, literaly something like 'to go behind a/the husband'). Well, actually. Many people just use жениться in all cases and I catch myself doing so way too often.


Hi,

The same is in Polish:

[man] marries [woman] ożenić się

[woman] marries [man] wyjść za mąż

However, there is a verb _poślubić_ which can be used for both sexes, I believe Russian equivalent would be _обвенчать._

Tom


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## kt_81

Thanks so far.. 



Thomas1 said:


> I believe Russian equivalent would be _обвенчать._



Yes, oбвенчаться. Totally forgotten it.  But for me it has kind of an old poetic connotation.


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## Chazzwozzer

No change in *Turkish.*

*X, Y ile evleniyor.*


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## Anatoli

kt_81 said:


> Yes, oбвенчаться. Totally forgotten it.  But for me it has kind of an old poetic connotation.


Жениться / пожениться (reflexive) can be used for both sexes together, when referring to a couple getting married, no need to use the older "oбвенчаться".

I think in Polish you need to add "się" - poślubić *się*?


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## fiorilù

roh3x2n said:


> in Farsi it it is the same.
> Aroosi


Where is Farsi?


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## Thomas1

Anatoli said:


> Жениться / пожениться (reflexive) can be used for both sexes together, when referring to a couple getting married, no need to use the older "oбвенчаться".
> 
> I think in Polish you need to add "się" - poślubić *się*?


I rather thought of _to marry (someone):_
_poślubić (kogoś)_

and in Russian: _обвенчать_?

[In Polish, this verb appears only as a transitive, non-reflexive verb, btw.]

Whereas, _to get married_ would be a set phrase: _wziąć ślub _(to take marriage). Russian _oбвенчаться_?


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## Flaminius

Anatoli said:


> *Chinese:
> *Generic expression, doesn't require an object:结婚 / 結婚 jiéhūn* v.o. marry; get married
> 
> If talking about men:
> 娶 [qǔ] marry (a woman), take a wife, get married
> 
> If talking about women:
> 嫁 [jià] (of a woman) marry
> 
> There is a number of other words with the same meaning in Chinese.


*
Japanese:*
Kanji representations overlaps with Chinese vocabulary.
The most typical expression for marrying someone is the unisex 結婚.
SSSSと結婚する。
SSSS-to kekkon suru.
get married with SSSS (intransitive)

Historically, different expressions were used to denote a man marrying a woman, and a woman, a man.

A man marrying a woman:
娶る
metoru
Literally "take woman," it might have been "taking a woman" or "taking someone as his woman."  The Chinese character conveys the same idea with 取, meaning _to take_ and 女, meaning _woman_.  The Japanese expression may or may not have been created after the Chinese idea, but I don't intend to inquire this here.

A woman marrying a man:
嫁ぐ
totsugu
It means more than a woman marrying a spouse; marrying into one's husband's house.

Of the two expressions, 娶る has fallen out of use as far as I know but 嫁ぐ is no unheard of.  Another expression for a woman marrying a man is, 「嫁に行く (yome-ni iku)」, meaning "go [to her husband house] as a bride."  This is also in use.


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## karuna

*Latvian:

*Most common expression is _apprecēties. _This is a reflexive verb (the object takes the instrumental case) indicating that two persons are involved and it is the same with a man or woman. Or _apprecēt _which is the same but the object takes the accusative case.

Other forms that are less used are genger specific:

for a woman: _iziet pie vīra _— lit., go to a husband (similar to Russian expression)
for a man: _apņemt sievu — _lit., embrace a wife or get a wife


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## papillon

fiorilù said:


> Where is Farsi?


Mostly Iran, also in Afghanistan. The language is called Persian or Farsi.


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## Anatoli

Flaminius said:


> *Japanese:*
> Kanji representations overlaps with Chinese vocabulary.
> The most typical expression for marrying someone is the unisex 結婚.
> SSSSと結婚する。
> SSSS-to kekkon suru.
> get married with SSSS (intransitive)
> 
> Historically, different expressions were used to denote a man marrying a woman, and a woman, a man.
> 
> A man marrying a woman:
> 娶る
> metoru
> Literally "take woman," it might have been "taking a woman" or "taking someone as his woman."  The Chinese character conveys the same idea with 取, meaning _to take_ and 女, meaning _woman_.  The Japanese expression may or may not have been created after the Chinese idea, but I don't intend to inquire this here.
> 
> A woman marrying a man:
> 嫁ぐ
> totsugu
> It means more than a woman marrying a spouse; marrying into one's husband's house.
> 
> Of the two expressions, 娶る has fallen out of use as far as I know but 嫁ぐ is no unheard of.  Another expression for a woman marrying a man is, 「嫁に行く (yome-ni iku)」, meaning "go [to her husband house] as a bride."  This is also in use.


Thanks, Flam, very interesting, learned something new today!


Thomas1 said:


> and in Russian: _обвенчать_?


It has a meaning of get to marry (or make marry):

e.g. Мать обвенчала сына - mother got (her) son to marry

You need to make the verb reflexive in Russian in order to have the meaning "get married".


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## Flaminius

karuna said:


> *Latvian:
> *.....
> for a man: _apņemt sievu — _lit., embrace a wife or get a wife


How about, "paņemt līgaviņu"?
I found this in the following form in my Latvian glossary.  Perhaps a folklore expression?

Es paņēmu līgaviņu, tēvam, mātei nezinot.
I married, while father and mother unknowing.


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## mymosyn

In spanish is the same word. Te verb "casarse". and i think that in french is "se marier" for both.


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## karuna

Flaminius said:


> How about, "paņemt līgaviņu"?
> I found this in the following form in my Latvian glossary.  Perhaps a folklore expression?
> 
> Es paņēmu līgaviņu, tēvam, mātei nezinot.
> I married, while father and mother unknowing.



Nice poetry but the translation has lost it all. _Līgaviņa_, the deminutive form of _līgava _(a bride), shows increased love or attachement. _Paņemt _means simply "to take" but it is unusual to use the prefix _pa- _to indicate a marriage. Other prefixes or without any prefix are often used coloquially:  _ņemt līgavu _(poetic), _ņemt sievu _(colloquial), _noprecēt, ieprecēties, salaulāties _(honorific).


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## ronanpoirier

In Portuguese it's just "casar-se" for both genders.In Hungarian, I am not sure if there are such thing as different verbs but the adjective are very different.


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## John-Paul

In Dutch we say: we gaan trouwen (we are going to marry). Or more formal: wij treden in het huwelijk (lit. we are stepping into matrimony). Gender equality is embedded in our culture so we don't speak of one sex marrying the other.


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## parakseno

Romanian too has two different verbs:

man marries a woman - a se însura
woman marries a man - a se mărita

There also is the "universal" verb for "to get married": "a se căsători". 

Note that they are all reflexive. For instance the verb "a mărita" (not reflexive) is used also for saying "to get rid of something"...


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## Anatoli

John-Paul said:


> In Dutch we say: we gaan trouwen (we are going to marry). Or more formal: wij treden in het huwelijk (lit. we are stepping into matrimony). Gender equality is embedded in our culture so we don't speak of one sex marrying the other.


Your statement may have a point but a lot of languages where men's and women's speech differ not necessarily discriminate any gender or otherwise where discrimination has been happening, there may not be so much difference in speech. Difference in feminine/masculine forms and word usage is cute and very interesting, IMHO.

Chinese has probably the least difference between genders in the language, even "he"/"she" sound the same, only a different character is used in standard Mandarin but a lot of dialects use the same character. Japanese differs in style, not in grammar (word and particle usage); Arabic (and other Semitic languages) has much more grammar forms that distinguish male/female - verbs, adjectives, pronouns, numerals, etc, Slavic languages follow very close by.


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## jun

In *Korean* we have three expressions meaning "to marry":

1. get married = 결혼(結婚)하다. (can be used for both sexes)
                      (gyul-hon-ha-da)

2. [man] marries [woman] = 장가가다. (man goes to live in his wife's house)
                                      (jang-ga-ga-da)

3. [woman] marries [man] = 시집가다. (woman goes to live in her husband's house)
                                      (see-jip-ga-da)


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## Anatoli

Thanks, Jun. It would be much more benefitial if you could provide romanisation on a multilanguage forum for a non-Roman language, IMHO.


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## Lemminkäinen

In Norwegian we only have one verb - *å gifte seg* (it's reflexive).

As the Danish Halfdan Rasmussen said: "Så bli'r man forlovet, forelsket, forgiftet" - "then you fall in love, get engaged, get poisoned". The verb _å forgifte_ means 'to poison'


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## larosa

In Hungarian:

1. get married = *összeházadosni*

2. [man] marries [woman] = *feleségül venni / elvenni *
         (Joe marries Linda - Joe _elveszi feleségül_/_feleségül veszi_ Lindát)

3. [woman] marries [man] =* hozzámegy (feleségül)* 
        (_Linda marries Joe - Linda hozzámegy Joe-hoz_)


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## Nizo

In Esperanto, there are three words:

_edziniĝi _is used when a woman marries_ ("to become a wife")_
_edziĝi _is used when a man marries_ ("to become a husband")_
_geedziĝi _is used for both
Therefore,_ she got married _is_ŝi edziniĝis_; _he got married_ is _l__i edziĝis_; and _they got married _is_ ili geedziĝis)._


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## suslik

well in Estonian we say *naist võtma* if we say that man marries a woman, it means to take a wife in direct translation. But we don't say to take a man, if woman marries. We say *abielluma* if we say that woman marries a man, that means to get married.


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## Maja

In Serbian:

- when a man marries a woman -> *oženiti se* v. / ženidba n. 
- when a woman marries a man -> *udati se* v. / udaja n.
- wedding -> *venčanje*
- to get married -> *venčati se* (used by both genders).


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## kusurija

In Czech:
[man] marries [woman] = oženit se (married [man] = ženatý)
[woman] marries [man] = vdát se (married [woman] = vdaná)
marriage = svatba[svadba], sňatek (juridical recording about that fact)

In Lithuanian:
[man] marries [woman] = vesti (married [man] = vedęs)
[woman] marries [man] = ištekėti (married [woman] = ištekėjusi)
marriage = vedybos


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## franz rod

In Italian:
[man] marries [woman] =Ammogliarsi
[woman] marries [man] =maritarsi
both =sposarsi


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## apmoy70

Greek made this distinction until 100-50 years ago:

Man marries woman: *«Νυμφεύομαι»* [nimˈfevome] --> _to marry (of the groom)_ < Classical denominative active v. *«νυμφεύω» nŭmpʰe̯úο̄* --> _(trans.) to give my son in marriage, (intrans.) to marry (of the groom), take a bride_; note that the v. in MoGr is mediopassive while in the ancient language is ambintransitive and active < Classical fem. noun *«νύμφη» númpʰē* --> _bride, goddess of lower rank (nymph)_ possibly with PIE origin (compared with Lat. nūbere, however the inner nasal in «νύμφη» remains unexplained).

Woman marries man: *«Παντρεύομαι»* [pandˈrevome] --> _to marry (of the bride)_ aphetic of ByzGr denominative active v. *«ὑπανδρεύω» ypandre̯úō* --> _(trans.) to give my daughter in marriage, (intrans.) to marry (of the bride), be under the husband_; note that the v. in MoGr is mediopassive while in ByzGr is ambintransitive and active < compound; Classical prefix, adverb, and preposition *«ὑπό» hŭpó* & *«ὕπο» húpŏ* --> _under, underneath_  (PIE *upo- _below, under_ cf Skt. उप (upa), _above_, Av. upa, _towards, near_, Lat. sub) + Classical noun *«ἀνήρ» ănḗr* (3rd declension masc. nom. sing.), *«ἀνδρός» ăndrós* (masc. gen. sing.) --> _man, male human being_ (PIE *h₂ner- _man_ cf Skt. नृ (nṛ́), Arm. այր (ayr), Alb. njer, _human being, person_).
Nowadays of course, *«παντρεύομαι»* [pandˈrevome] is the generic v. for _marry_, used by both males and females.


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## Armas

In Finnish the most common and used for both sexes is _mennä naimisiin_ (lit. "to go into _naimiset_(?)"), the word _naimiset_, which could maybe be translated "marrying" comes from _naida_ "to get married" [_naida_ is often avoided today, because it also has the vulgar meaning "to f*ck"], which, if I remember correctly, ultimately comes from _nainen_ "woman".

Another verb is _avioitua_, also used for both sexes, comes from _avio_ "marriage".

Exclusively used for woman is _mennä miehelään_ lit. "to go to _miehelä_", where _miehelä_ (< _mies_ "man" + -_lä_ suffix denoting a place) means the place where the husband lives, so the expression literally means the bride moving into the husband's house. This is rarely used today.


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## aum34

Spanish

Formal: "contraer matrimonio", "unirse en matrimonio", "desposarse" (esposo, marido= husband;  esposa, mujer=wife)
The most common: "casarse" 

Also exist the verb "Maridar" but sounds really strange to my ears.

No gender distinction.



franz rod said:


> In Italian:
> [man] marries [woman] =Ammogliarsi


That one sounds funny, like the man becoming a woman


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## bibax

kusurija said:


> In Czech:
> [man] marries [woman] = *oženit se* ...; sense: to equip/furnish oneself with a woman;
> [woman] marries [man] = *vdát se* ...; sense: to give oneself [to a man];


Both (formal/official expressions):

*uzavříti sňatek* = to make/strike a marriage (like _uzavříti obchod_ = to make/strike a deal);
*vstoupiti do manželství* = to enter into marriage;


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## Dymn

*Catalan*: _casar-se_ (no distinction)

*Swahili*:
man marries woman: _kuoa_
woman marries man: _kuolewa_ (passive form of _kuoa_)


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## Awwal12

kt_81 said:


> Yes, oбвенчаться. Totally forgotten it.  But for me it has kind of an old poetic connotation.


There is nothing old or poetic about it, it just refers to the religious ritual (during which the couple gets "crowned"). E.g. невенчанный брак (nevénchannyi brak) - a marriage that wasn't confirmed by Church.
Also there's a similar (and rather atrocious ) reciprocal reflexive verb брачеваться (brachevát'sya), literally ~~"to marriage themselves".

Probably I should note that many Russian speakers use the verbs in the original post incorrectly. I often find myself mixing them up, and while for выходить замуж it sounds outright hilarious indeed, жениться sounds much more "normal" when being misused like that.


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## Panceltic

Slovenian has *poročiti se* as a general term. *Poročil se je* (he got married), *poročila se je* (she got married), *poročila sta se* (they got married). *Poroka* = wedding.

Gender-specific verbs are *omožiti se* (for women, to husbandify oneself) and *oženiti se* (for men, to wifify  oneself).

There is also a more formal expression *skleniti zakon* (to conduct matrimony) or *skleniti zakonsko zvezo* (to conduct matrimonial bond). *Zakon* = marriage (also means law in other contexts), *zakonec* = spouse.

Edit: I just remembered another expression, a bit outdated or humorous/rustic: *Vzela sta se* (they took one another).


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## Awwal12

Panceltic said:


> Slovenian has *poročiti se* as a general term.


Curious. In other Slavic languages words coming from *rǫka are mostly tied to betrothal, not to marriage (cf. also Slovene *zaročiti se*).


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## Panceltic

Awwal12 said:


> Curious. In other Slavic languages words coming from *rǫka are mostly tied to betrothal, not to marriage (cf. also Slovene *zaročiti se*).



Yes, it’s quite funny: first you ask for the hand (prositi za roko, zaročiti se) and then after a while you come for said hand! (»priti po roko«)


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## Trisia

parakseno said:


> Romanian too has two different verbs:
> 
> man marries a woman - a se însura
> woman marries a man - a se mărita
> 
> There also is the "universal" verb for "to get married": "a se căsători".
> 
> Note that they are all reflexive. For instance the verb "a mărita" (not reflexive) is used also for saying "to get rid of something"...



Oh, aside the common vocabulary mentioned above, Romanian also has the reflexive/reciprocal verb "*a se cununa*" (lit. _to place a tiara on one's head_), which specifically means having a religious marriage, though nowadays people often use it for both, and thus feel the need to specify:
"ne-am cununat civil" (_we got married at the town hall_)​"cununia religioasa a fost la Sf Andrei" (_the religious wedding service was held at St Andrew's_)​
Regionally, the "crowns" used in Orthodox churches are called "*pirostrii*", so a slightly humorous way of notifying people that you've tied the knot is to tell them you _put the crown on [your head] _"mi-am pus pirostriile [pe cap]"
(Incidentally, the same word means those tripod stands you might see under a cauldron or beaker in a witch's hut/lab)






And yes, we also can say *"s-au luat*" (_they took each other_), often used in the form of a question by exasperated (ing? ) elderly family members who keep nudging the young ones to get hitched already.


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## apmoy70

Trisia said:


> ...
> Regionally, the "crowns" used in Orthodox churches are called "*pirostrii*", so a slightly humorous way of notifying people that you've tied the knot is to tell them you _put the crown on [your head] _"mi-am pus pirostriile [pe cap]"
> (Incidentally, the same word means those tripod stands you might see under a cauldron or beaker in a witch's hut/lab)
> 
> View attachment 77801
> 
> ..


Ηere they're called *«στέφανα»* [ˈs̠t̠e̞.fa.na] (neut. nom. pl.), *«στέφανο»* [ˈs̠t̠e̞.fa.no̞] (neut. nom. sing.) which literally means _wreath(s)_, hence the male name *«Στέφανος»* [ˈs̠t̠e̞.fa.no̞s̠] < Koine name for males *«Στέφανος» Stépʰănŏs* (idem) --> _the wreathed-one_ or _honoured-one_  < Koine masc. noun *«στέφανος» stépʰănŏs* --> _wreath of victory_ or _honour_, a deverbative < Classical v. *«στέφω» stépʰō* --> _to surround closely, enclose tightly, encase, wreathe, honour (with libations)_ (PIE *stegʷʰ- _to crown_ cf. Arm. թագ (t'ag), _crown, diadema regium_).
They aren't as elaborate as in the Slavic or the Romanian tradition:


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## Trisia

apmoy70 said:


> Ηere they're called *«στέφανα»*
> [...]
> They aren't as elaborate as in the Slavic or the Romanian tradition:
> View attachment 77802


Wow, I know plenty of people bearing that name but never knew how pretty the meaning was.

Oh, and those look much better than the golden ones.


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## Penyafort

Dymn said:


> *Catalan*: _casar-se_ (no distinction)



That's right.

There's also the verb *maridar*, though, and that is mainly used for women marrying men.

As the famous Catalan traditional song_ Rossinyol que vas a França _says:

_Rossinyol, que vas a França, rossinyol,_​_encomana'm a la mare, rossinyol,
i en el pare no pas gaire, rossinyol,
perquè m'ha mal *maridada*, rossinyol,
d'un vol, d'un bell boscatge, rossinyol, d'un vol..._​​(You, nightingale going to France, oh nightingale,​commend me to my mother, oh nightingale,​and not to my father, oh nightingale,​because he married me badly, oh nightingale​from a beautiful copse, in one flight.)​​Also, another song:

_Quan jo era filla per *maridar*,_​_galans per mi tenia, ai las,_​_galans per mi tenia..._​​When I was a daughter (old enough) to get married,​beaus I had for me, alas,​beaus I had for me...​


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