There’s no escaping the importance of gender in Spanish nouns. Or is there? A select few Spanish nouns aren’t really affected by gender. These nouns keep the same spelling, regardless of gender — a fact that cuts down the number of words you have to memorize to speak and write Spanish like a native.
For these nouns, all you have to do is change the definite article to reflect whether the person in question is male or female. Not bad, huh? Check out the following table to see the most common of these nouns that don’t let gender push them around.
| Masculine | Feminine | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| el artista | la artista | the artist |
| el dentista | la dentista | the dentist |
| el periodista | la periodista | the journalist |
| el telefonista | la telefonista | the operator |
| el modelo | la modelo | the model |
| el joven | la joven | the youth |
| el estudiante | la estudiante | the student |
The following nouns, however, always remain feminine, regardless of the gender of the person being described:
la persona (the person)
la víctima (the victim)