Masculine. Feminine.
The Gender of People Nouns
1. Sometimes, the distinction between masculine and feminine is shown by the noun ending. The basic rule is: if the noun ends in -o, it's masculine; if it ends in -a, it's feminine. For example:
El chico: boy | La chica: girl
There are many other pairs of nouns where the ending changes to indicate gender, such as:
El alcalde: mayor (male) | La alcaldesa: mayor (female)
El duque: duke | La duquesa: duchess
El príncipe: prince | La princesa: princess
El papa: pope | La papisa: female pope (rare, mostly historical)
El profeta: prophet | La profetisa: prophetess
El sacerdote: priest | La sacerdotisa: priestess
El actor: actor | La actriz: actress
El emperador: emperor | La emperatriz: empress
El héroe: hero | La heroína: heroine
El zar: czar | La zarina: czarina
El oso: (male bear) | La osa: (female bear)
Other times, the feminine form is different and needs to be memorized:
El gallo: rooster | La gallina: hen
El tigre: tiger | La tigresa: tigress
2. Heteronyms
Sometimes, masculine and feminine forms are expressed using completely different words, called heteronyms. For example:
El hombre: man | La mujer: woman
El padre: father | La madre: mother
El caballo: stallion | La yegua: mare
El toro: bull | La vaca: cow
3. Epicene Nouns
Nouns that are inherently masculine or feminine and refer to people or animals without distinguishing their sex are called epicenes.
These are especially frequent with animal and plant names:
Animals:
El avestruz: ostrich
La cobra: cobra
La jineta: genet
El buitre: vulture
El calamar: squid
El caracol: snail
El cocodrilo: crocodile
El dinosaurio: dinosaur
El jabalí: wild boar
El pulpo: octopus
La almeja: clam
La cigüeña: stork
La codorniz: quail
La gamba: shrimp
La hormiga: ant
La jirafa: giraffe
La mosca: fly
La tortuga: turtle
Plants:
El acebo: holly
El espárrago: asparagus
La palmera: palm tree
El plátano: banana tree
El sauce: willow
Some people nouns also fall into this category:
La autoridad: authority
El emisor: sender/emitter
La persona: person
How do you know if the animal is male or female?
You can add macho (male) or hembra (female) after the noun:
El delfín macho: male dolphin
La tortuga hembra: female turtle
For people, to indicate the sex of a person referred to by an epicene noun, you can add words like masculino/femenino (male/female) or varón/mujer (man/woman):
Los personajes femeninos: female characters
Las víctimas masculinas: male victims
Los parientes varones: male relatives
4. Common Gender Nouns
In some cases, the same noun form is used for both masculine and feminine. The gender is marked only by the article. For example:
El estudiante: the male student | La estudiante: the female student
El amante: the male lover | La amante: the female lover
El artista: the male artist | La artista: the female artist
El cónyuge: the husband/spouse | La cónyuge: the wife/spouse
These nouns are called common gender nouns because their endings don’t change; only the article signals whether the noun refers to a male or female.
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