Gender of Animals

Question

I am confused about the gender of animals. I know that "el perro" is dog and "el gato" is cat. If the dog and car are female, do you write "la perra" and "la gata"?

Answer 1

Hello aikoaiko! Welcome to the forum.

You certainly do write la perra, and la gata for female equivalents.

Don't be confused by the gender of animals you can normally tell quite easily except in the case of snakes and other such animals.

Answer 2

Sí, es correcto. I used to be confused on that, too, but when I was in Spanish 1 I told my Spanish teacher (in Spanish, of course!) that I had a girl dog (la perra) she didn't tell me it was wrong, so. . .you're right! ¡Espero que sea gran ayuda!

Answer 3

But what about a Foca (seal) ? I have never seen Foco, unless one was talking about a lightbulb. Would one say la foca macho when talking about a male seal?

In cases like this, you say "macho" or "hembra".

For the seal, it is "foca macho" (male), or "foca hembra" (female).

Ya veo, gracias. - 003487d6, Dec 5, 2009

Answer 4

We say "la perra y la gata" and you know from the first that they are female gender.

Yes, but I was wondering if you say: I have a female cat (or dog).

I never see that type of sentence. I always see "I have a cat" or things like these.

Yes Nila if you want to make sure people know your cat is a boy or girl, you'd say "I have a male/female cat." - 003487d6, Dec 5, 2009

Apart from "la foca macho" or "la foca hembra", there are a lot of examples of animals which you have to use "macho" or "hembra" with. I cannot remember any but if you ask, I will answer you. - nila45, Dec 5, 2009

ok Gracias :) - 003487d6, Dec 5, 2009

Answer 5

But what about a Foca (seal) ? I have never seen Foco, unless one was talking about a lightbulb. Would one say la foca macho when talking about a male seal?

This makes me sound like I have done a lot of reading up on seals, which is not the case :P - 003487d6, Dec 5, 2009

Yes, "la foca macho" and "la foca hembra". - nila45, Dec 5, 2009

Is this the same for other animals that are normally feminine? Not with vaca I guess, which has toro, but lechuza? La lechuza macho? - 003487d6, Dec 5, 2009

Yes, that applies to all animals that do not have a proper noun for each gender. - Mokay, Dec 5, 2009

Answer 6

delete