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The main points discussed in this chapter are
•Gender of nouns referring to humans and some animals (Section 1.2)
•Gender of nouns referring to lifeless things, plants and other animals (Section 1.3)
•The gender of foreign words (Section 1.3.12)
•Doubtful genders (Section 1.3.15)
•Misleading genders of some French nouns (Section 1.4)
1.1 Gender of nouns: general
Spanish nouns are either masculine or feminine except for a few nouns of undecided gender listed at 1.3.15. The whole question of the gender of Spanish nouns becomes clearer if we divide them into two groups:
(A) Nouns that refer to human beings and to a few well-known animals: Section 1.2.
(B) Nouns that refer to lifeless things, to plants and to the animals not included in group A: Section 1.3.
1.2 Group A: gender of nouns referring to human beings and to a few animals
As one might expect, nouns that denote males are masculine, and nouns referring to females are feminine, so el hombre ‘man’, la mujer ‘woman’, el toro ‘bull’, la vaca ‘cow’. This rule applies to almost all human beings but only to a few animals, many of them listed in 1.2.1. The gender of other animals is discussed at 1.3.1.
The gender of the nouns in group A is more logical in Spanish than in French, where the masculine noun le professeur can refer to a woman. Forms like la recluta ‘recruit’, la centinela ‘sentry’ were applied to men in the past, but we now say el recluta, el centinela for a man and la recluta, la centinela for a woman.
Exceptions: a few nouns of fixed gender like la víctima or la celebridad may refer to males or to females: see 1.2.11 for a list.
(1) Note that usually the plural masculine form of these nouns is used for mixed sex groups: los gatos = ‘cats’ as well as ‘tom cats’, mis tíos = ‘my aunt(s) and uncle(s)’ as well as ‘my uncles’, los padres = ‘parents’ as well as ‘fathers’. See 1.2.8.
1.2.1 Special forms for male and female
As in English, some nouns have special forms for the male and for the female and they must be learned separately. The following list is not exhaustive:
| el abad/la abadesa abbot/abbess | el barón/la baronesa baron/baroness |
| el actor/la actriz actor/actress | el caballo/la yegua stallion/mare |
| el león/la leona lion/lioness | el marido/la mujer husband/wife (or woman) |
| el carnero/la oveja* ram/ewe (or sheep) | el padre/la madre father/mother |
| el conde/la condesa count/countess | el príncipe/la princesa prince/princess |
| el duque/la duquesa duke/duchess | el rey/la reina king/queen |
| el elefante/la elefanta elephant | el sacerdote/la sacerdotisa priest/priestess |
| el emperador/la emperatriz emperor/empress | el toro/la vaca* bull/cow |
| el gallo/la gallina* cockerel/hen (or chicken) | el varón (human) or el macho (animals)/la |
| el héroe/la heroína hero/heroine (or heroin) | hembra male/female |
| el hombre/la mujer man (see note 2) | el yerno/la nuera son/daughter-in-law (la |
| el jabalí/ la jabalina wild boar | yerna is heard in parts of Lat. America) |
(1) Asterisks mark a feminine form which is also used for the species, e.g. las ovejas = ‘sheep’ as well as ‘ewes’. Usually the masculine plural is used for the species. See 1.2.8.
(2) In Latin America ‘wife’ is la esposa and ‘wo...
