Spanish/Formation of the feminine in nouns

< ../Grammar Index Natural gender nouns may belong to the following categories Not inflected (de género común). One form is used for both genders, but the adjectives must agree with the natural gender. El artista chileno/la artista chilena; el testigo mentiroso/la testigo mentirosa. Inflected. The feminine is formed from the masculine, normally adding a or replacing the last vowel by a: el niño/la niña. Both inflected and non inflected: el presidente/la presidente/la presidenta. Some people have strong views as to whether the inflected or the not inflected form is sexist. Regular inflection of the feminine. If a word ends in a vowel, the feminine replaces that vowel by a: el cliente, la clienta. If a word ends in a consonant, the feminine adds an a: el profesor, la profesora. When nouns are inflected Nouns are inflected or not depending on the ending of the masculine-gender form. o: inflected. El niño/la niña. Exceptions: el/la testigo, el ingeniero/la ingeniero/la ingeniera. a: not inflected. El/la artista. El modisto is very anomalous. Probably the first male dressmakers invented that word so they wouldn't be confused with women. On the other hand, a male cheerleader is un porrista, not un *porristo. Another exception is el poeta/la poeta/la poetisa. Feminists prefer la poeta but la poetisa is very common. e (except ante, ente): not inflected. El detective/la detective. There are many exceptions: el alcalde/la alcaldesa, el cliente/la cliente/la clienta. ante: not inflected. El/la ayudante. However words in this category may have an old inflected form, which is not used anymore: la ayudanta, la estudianta. ente. Prescriptive grammarians say that this words should not be inflected: el/la adolescente. However, there are many exceptions included in dictionaries: el presidente/la presidente/la presidenta, el gerente/la gerente/la gerenta. Stressed vowel: not inflected. El/la gurú. Consonant: inflected. El profesor/la profesora, el bailarín/la bailarina. Exceptions: el concejal/la concejal/la concejala, el juez/la juez/la jueza, el/la joven. /Grammar