Why do some adjectives not change in gender?

Question

I am thinking of a specific example here. The adjective for capitalist appears only as capitalista in several dictionaries I checked. Plus, saying capitalisto would sound quite strange to me. But Spanish generally has very strict grammar rules. Why the exception?

Estoy pensando en un ejemplo específico. El adjetivo por "capitalist" solamente aparece como "capitalista" en varios diccionarios que he visto. Además, "capitalisto" me sonaría muy raro. Pero en general Español tiene normas muy estrictas de gramática. ¿Por qué hay esta excepción?

Answer 1

I think it depends on the context, for example, El dentista mío, la dentista mía and in spanish language, the rule of these words depends on the word´s end:

The words that end with (----e), (----- ista), (------al), have their changes only with the article and not with the rest of the word

(------e) inteligente un chico inteligente una chica inteligente

(-------ista) optimista Mi amigo es un hombre optimista Mi amiga es una mujer optimista

(----- al) leal Tengo un amigo leal tengo una amiga leal

Pues mire en las frases arriba, no hay cambia , solo con el artículo

Answer 2

Generally "capitalista" is a noun. It's a noun without gender, meaning that you modify it by the article or an adjective: El capitalista or La capitalista.

If you're talking about "capitalistic", then you're correct. It doesn't change. Why? I don't know. Maybe it's just something to confuse Spanish learners. Some things just don't have an explanation.

Answer 3

I actually thought capitalist was a noun and dictionary.com supported me on that belief. It might be that capitalist is a noun or a word akin to "policía" in that it is the same for both men and women. Do you have any other examples of adjectives that are like this?

Capitalista is listed as an adjective and a noun in my dictionary. I can't think of another example off the top of my head. - penguinboy561, Apr 25, 2010

el mundo y el sistema materialista - drmsrudman, Oct 23, 2015