if a president is female does the noun change to presidenta
If a female is president "presidente" does it change to presidenta? also if a woman holds an office of "Ministerio de Salud" or "Ministra de defensa" does the ending change to feminino
12 Answers
Nowdays "presidenta" is very common. There's still a transition in many professions like juez / jueza where a few people is using a feminine form but male form is the most common. So you can hear "la juez" "la jueza". The words presidenta, ministra y jueza are all of them in the RAE's dictionary.
I think this needs clarifying. Collins appears to give conflicting information.
1) Presi* (smf) = Presidente
2) Presidente/a = (sm/f)
Number one appears to indicate it is a masculine and feminine noun, whilst number two appears to say it is either a masculine or feminine noun.
here are the two definitions from the RAE.
Presidente.
(Del ant. part. act. de presidir; lat. praes?dens, -entis).
adj. Que preside.
com. Persona que preside.
com. Cabeza o superior de un gobierno, consejo, tribunal, junta, sociedad, etc.
com. En los regímenes republicanos, jefe del Estado normalmente elegido por un plazo fijo.
m. Entre los romanos, juez gobernador de una provincia.
m. En algunas religiones, sustituto del prelado.
m. Maestro que, puesto en la cátedra, asistía al discípulo que realizaba un ejercicio literario.
Presidenta.
f. Mujer que preside.
f. presidente (cabeza de un gobierno, consejo, tribunal, junta, sociedad, etc.).
f. presidente (jefa del Estado).
f. coloq. Mujer del presidente.
It used to be just "Presidente" for both, but actually the RAE has accepted the feminine version. So now "Presidenta" is correct. It sounds terrible to me though. One of this days we will be hearing that "ESTUDIANTA" has been approved.
No it is the same. Presidente is a f or m noun.
According to my findings, both WordRef, and Oxford now have entries for "presidente" and "presidenta"
Wodref.com dictionary
presidente, ta 1. m. y f. Persona que preside. 2. Persona que ocupa el puesto más importante de una colectividad u organismo: presidente de la ejecutiva. 3. En los regímenes republicanos,el jefe del Estado.
My digitized Oxford Spanish Dictionary on my phone gives presidente - ta
The Spanish language is alive, breathing, changing, being changed by the people who use it, and the people are being changed by the language they use. That is the nature of every language that does not become extinct. To put on some unreality "Man of la Mancha" cloak and insist that only Castilian is a true language, is the mark of someone who has not traveled. Ten minutes from my house, I can be sitting in a café in which no English is spoken, only Spanish.
Obviously, since the two well-respected dictionaries I have cited give the "te" and the "ta" ending, Marianna is most likely correct in her assertion that RAE has given its blessing to the term "la presidenta".
I find it very interesting that almost this entire discussion is about what is technically correct and not about what is actually used in the spoken language. This is fine if you are studying a formal course in Spanish but if you what to be fluent you need to speak the language as it is spoken in the streets.
Right now Mexico has a female candidate for president. La Paz has had a female president (I don't know why La Paz has a president and not a mayor). Both refer to them selves using the female form Presidenta.
Dual G and Gringo are both correct:
.....the RAE has accepted the feminine version. So now "Presidenta" is correct.
By the book = Presidenta
to be fluent you need to speak the language as it is spoken in the streets.
By the streets (at least in Guatemala) = Presidenta
Yes it does, ministerio would be minesteria.
Why insult the people of latin america, its unnecessary. English is from england so the united states, australia, nz, and everywhere else are just blabbering some barely comprehensible form of english?
A language, any language, is a living growing entity. I hear and read so many things in the English language that are not, by my standards, correct; but guess what, if the majority of the people are using them in their everyday speaking, then they are now part of the language. cayitodj is right in his assertation that these are m/f nouns but the others are also correct in that the feminine form is now being used in everyday conversation. Change to language must be accepted once it becomes a "fait accompli" ... a little French on SD. A very interesting discussion!
I am amaized to see, that some one, because some one is going to school, to be a lower, should know more about the Spanish , that someone, that was born and raised and when to school is a Spanish speacking Country. I know, that this days, many spanish speaking people, intead of Abogado for a female, use abogada, but that doesn't mean is the correct thing to say. There a lot of things, that have been added to the Spanish lenguage, that were not use before, the word parking is one on them, but I know, that for femeale, Preisdente, for President, Juez for Jodge, and Abogado for lower, are the same for a man as it is for a woman. Mariana, don't say this is wrong or this is right, before searching, from the people that Speack the real Spanish, the people of Spain, no the thoes that come from a latinamerican country. Another thing is, that there is not such a thing as Spanish lenguage, the name for is Castilian, wich come from Castilla, Spain.
The correct answer here is Presidente, is noun, and doesn't change, is the same for both, man and woman. It is the same as for Woman Lower, wich is Abogado, for both Man and Woman.
