Spanish Grammar in Context - A reference grammar with video examples from the Spanish in Texas collection

In Spanish, a noun is always feminine or masculine and is usually introduced by a determiner, which indicates the gender of the noun.

People

When a noun refers to a person, the gender is usually determined by the person’s sex. In general, the feminine form of a noun is formed by using an –a ending.

Masculine	Feminine
*el camarero*	*la camarera*
*el amigo*	*la amiga*
*el doctor*	*la doctora*
*el presidente*	*la presidenta*

There are cases when the feminine form of the noun changes more drastically.

Masculine	Feminine
*el actor*	*la actriz*
*el poeta*	*la poetisa*
*el padre*	*la madre*

Uno aprende a ser padre o madre, mientras uno va caminando.
One learns to be a dad or mom while one goes. Aunque era hembra, yo tenía que hacer los trabajos del varón.
Even though I was a female, I had to do the work of a male.

Sometimes, the masculine form and the feminine form of a noun are identical, such as most nouns featuring -ista and -ante endings. Only the determiner or the context indicates if it is a feminine or masculine noun.

Masculine	Feminine
*el estudiante*	*la estudiante*
*el periodista*	*la periodista*
*el artista*	*la artista*

Mi mamá trabajaba como una corresponsal periodista internacional.
My mom worked as an international correspondent journalist.

Animals

The gender of animals is often arbitrary. Most animals are assigned one set gender: some are masculine (el leopardo the leopard, el murciélago the bat) and others feminine (la hormiga the ant, la oveja the sheep). However, some animals have different masculine and feminine forms, a few of those are irregular.

Masculine	Feminine
*el perro*	*la perra*
*el gato*	*la gata*
*el gallo*	*la gallina*
*el buey/toro*	*la vaca*

Se me dio por tener una mascota ni perro, ni gato, no, un pingüino.
I ended up with a pet, not a dog, not a cat, no, a penguin. Pude trabajar con niños y con animales al mismo tiempo pero no animales que encuentras en cualquier lado. O sea con ballenas, con delfines, con pájaros exóticos.
I could work with kids and animals at the same time but no animales that you find anywhere but with whales, dolphins, exotic birds.

Objects and Ideas

The gender of nouns referring to things and abstractions is arbitrary. However, it can often be inferred from the ending of the word. Typically, words ending in -aje, -mento, -miento, -ismo are masculine and those ending in -ción, -sión, -ad, -ancia, -encia, -eza, -ía, -ia, -ura are feminine.