Gender for people and professions

Explication

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.

Exemples

Règles liées

• Every noun has a gender