2.5 Gender

In English, gender is expresses regularly only in personal pronouns and possessive adjectives.

However, there are certain pairs of nouns, one for men and one for women; the common ones are found in the table below.

In Spanish, the plural of the masculine form can be used generically for both male and female. For example:

los padres = madre y padre

los hijos = hijos e hijas

In English, this is not possible. The plural of the male can only refer to several males, for example:

fathers = padres (masculino)

sons = hijos (masculino)

1. You must use both words, for example: My aunt and uncle came to see us. (Mis tíos nos visitaron.) A great photo of the bride and groom. (Una foto muy bonita de los novios.) 2. Normally we use ‘‘king and queen’’, but in formal contexts you will find ‘‘sovereigns’’, for example: the Catholic Sovereigns (los Reyes Católicos) 3. The generic term is ‘‘police’’, which is followed by a plural verb, e.g.: The police are coming. (Viene la policía.) However, we cannot use numerals withe the word ‘‘police’’. We have to say, for example: Three policemen and two policewomen (Tres policías hombres y dos polícias mujeres) Five police officers (Cinco agentes de policía) (Not: five police.)

Nowadays many people make an effort to avoid sexist terms, for example chairman (moderador), spokesman (portavoz), fireman (bombero). The politically correct terms are chair, spokesperson, firefighter, e.g.:

Mary/John will be our spokesperson. (Mary/John será nuestro portavoz.)