Nouns: Masculine or Feminine?

Question

If amigo is masculine for friend, and amiga is feminine, then what do you say when you are talking about a group of friends that are both male and female?

For example, if I was going to say, "They are my friends," and I was talking about George, Sarah, and Lizzy, what would that be in spanish? Would "amigo y amigas" be correct to replace friends?

Also, if "amigo" could be changed to "amiga", then could a word like "gato" be "gata" when you're talking about a female cat? (my cat's a she...)

Thanks.

Answer 1

Beware! The feminine form of gato is gata, león is leona, perro is perra. However it is not always the case. The most common example of the exemption is the Spanish for Horse. Horse is Caballo as is a MALE horse.

If you preferred the mild nature of a mare, do not use Caballa unless you wish to convey your preference for riding a Mackerel ! Use Yegua instead.

Great example. - 0074b507, Sep 29, 2011

buen ejemplo estoy de acuerdo - readytodictate, Mar 2, 2012

Answer 2

So - not all nouns can/need to be/should be changed to match sex? And if that's the case, then stay with the masculine form of the word?

All nouns need to show the proper gender. Most of the time gender will agree with sex, but not always. Nouns like vestido ( a dress) normally are associated with the female sex, but they are masculine in gender. - 0074b507, Sep 29, 2011

Answer 3

What would, "My cat's name is Taffy" translate to?

You refer to her as a gato if you just wish to say "My cat's name is Taffy". No one cares about the sex of the cat.

You refer to her as gata if you wish to say "Her name is Taffy".

Of course, with a name like Taffy I would always use gata as it is an effeminate name.

Mi gata se llama Taffy.

Answer 4

What would, "My cat's name is Taffy" translate to?

Me gata llamo es Taffy... something like that? - groovy, Sep 29, 2011

Answer 5

Mixed groups (1000 men +1 woman or 1000 women+ 1 man) are always treated as masculine.

Son mis amigos. It would only be amigas if they were all female.

gato=tom cat

gata=female cat

gato=cat when you do not know the sex or if it is not important to the context.