# Gender for people and professions

> id: grammar.nouns.gender-people-professions · category: grammar · depth: standard · levels: A2 · review: internally_reviewed

**Summary.** Most professions inflect (el doctor / la doctora, el abogado / la abogada); -ista and -ante stay invariable (el/la periodista); usage for some titles still varies by country.

Nouns for people and professions usually have both a masculine and a feminine form. The common patterns: -o → -a (el médico / la médica, el abogado / la abogada), -or → -ora (el profesor / la profesora, el director / la directora), and a consonant + -a (el juez / la jueza, el español / la española).

Nouns ending in -ista, -ante, and -ente are invariable — only the article changes: el/la periodista, el/la artista, el/la estudiante, el/la gerente, el/la cantante.

Some feminine forms are now standard almost everywhere (la presidenta, la jefa, la ingeniera); others still fluctuate by country and register (la juez vs la jueza, la médico vs la médica). When unsure, the inflected feminine is the form the RAE endorses.

## Examples
- La ingeniera presentó el proyecto. — The (woman) engineer presented the project.
- Mi dentista es muy buena. — My dentist is very good. *(Invariable noun; agreement shows gender.)*
- La ingeniera y el arquitecto presentaron el plan. — The engineer and the architect presented the plan.

Related: grammar.nouns.gender-basic

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