1/5/2017 GenderofAnimalsinSpanish

Humanities Languages

Gender of Animals
Grammatical and Biological Gender Don't Always Match

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Una cebra. (A zebra.). Photo by Benh Lieu Song, licensed via Creative Commons.

by Gerald Erichsen
Updated May 27, 2014

Ifyouthinkthatmasculinenounsarealwaysusedwithreferringtomalesand
femininenounswhenreferringtofemales,yourassumptionwouldbewrong
especiallywhentalkingaboutanimals.

Likemostnouns,thenamesfornearlyallanimalsareeithermasculineor
feminine.Forexample,thewordforgiraffe,jirafaisfeminine,anditcanbeused
whenreferringtoanygiraffe,whethermaleorfemale.

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Similarly,rinoceronteismasculine,anditcanbeusedtorefertorhinocerosesof
eithersex.

Someanimalshavedifferentnamesforeachsex.Forexample,aperroisamale
dog,andaperraisafemaledog.Thenamesdon'thavetobesosimilar:acowis
unavaca,whileabullisuntoro,eventhoughtheyrefertothesamespeciesof
animal.

Someotheranimalswithdifferentnamesforthesexesare:

ellagarto(malelizard),lalagarta(femalelizard)

elelefante(maleelephant),laelefanta(femaleelephant)

elcaballo(stallion),layegua(mare)

elcarnero(ram),laoveja(sheep)

elgallo(rooster),lagallina(hen)

elmacho(billygoat),lacabra(nannygoat)

Generally,themasculineformcanbethoughtofasthedefaultnameforthetype
ofspecies.Thusifyoudon'tknowwhetheracatismaleorfemale,it'sfinetorefer
toitasungato.Butacatknowntobefemalecanbereferredtoasunagata.

Inthecaseofanimalswhosenamesvarywiththesex,ifyouhaveagroupof
animals,somefemaleandsomemale,theyshouldbereferredtobythemasculine
plural:thuslosgatosorlosperros.Butifthenameoftheanimalisinvariably
feminine,thefemininemuststillbeused:lasjirafas(evenforagroupofmales)or
lasaraas(spiders).

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Inaveryfewcaseswhereeachsexhasadifferentnametheyincludevaca,
cabraandovejathefeminineformcanbepluralizedtorepresentagroup.(The
samecanbetrueinEnglish,ascattlemightinformallybereferredtoascowseven
ifsomebullsarepartofthemix.)

Ifyouneedtoindicatethesexofananimalwithaundifferentiatedname,youcan
addthewordmachoformaleorhembraforfemale:

lajirafahembra,thefemalegiraffe

lajirafamacho,themalegiraffe

eldinosauriomacho,themaledinosaur

eldinosauriohembra,thefemaledinosaur

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Notethatmachoandhembra,however,aretraditionallyconsideredtobeeither
Pablo,lajirafamsaltadelzoo,estenfermo.Pablo,thezoo'stallest
nounsorinvariableadjectives.Thustheydonotvaryinformwithgenderor
giraffe,issick.
number:
SuhmstersellamaElena.Elenaesmuyguapa.Hishamsterisnamed
Elena.Elenaisverypretty.
lasjirafashembra,thefemalegiraffes

lasjirafasmacho,themalegiraffes
Haveaquestionorcomment?Seetheblogpostonanimalgender.
Althoughtreatingmachoandhembraasinvariableadjectivesisthe
grammaticallysafethingtodo,inreallifespeakerssometimesmakethemplural.
(Someothergrammarrulesmayalsobefollowedlooselybynativespeakers.)You
shouldsticktothetraditionalforminformalwriting,however.

Whenreferringtoanimalswithpersonalnames(suchaspets),youshoulduse
adjectiveswhosegendermatchesthegivennameoftheanimalwhenusingthat
nameasthesubjectofasentence:

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