Femanine/Masculine Endings

Question

Why do some words use the feminine and masculine ending and others do not? Is there a trick to knowing when you add the feminine or masuline ending?
For example; El es fuerte. Why is it not El es fuerto?
El es impaciente. Why is it not El es impaciento? Or Ella es enteligente and not enteligenta?

Answer 1

It's more or less random. It's a language, not rocket science. As one of my Spanish teachers once screamed at the class, "There is no why!".

Really, and he kept his job? ;-) He probly wouldnt like me as a student because I have a million questions. But isnt that part of learning? - TrevaSisco, Jul 20, 2011

He was quite patient, and an excellent teacher, but one day one student asked "Why?" once too often. :-) - KevinB, Jul 20, 2011

hahaha.... - TrevaSisco, Jul 20, 2011

Answer 2

The standard gender rule is: if the adjective is feminine it ends in "a" (and yes, there are always exceptions). If the adjective is masculine, it ends in "o". If the adjective ends in anything else, it is a hermaphrodite (it is both genders). So your examples of fuerte and inteligente tell you that both these adjectives can be masculine and feminine, depending on what noun they are modifying.