Nouns, Adjectives and Gender?

Question

Will a Noun ever change its gender depending on context?

E.g. "his interest is..." = "su interés está..."

Does that mean "her interest is..." = "su interésa está..."?

Is there a difference if the noun ends with a vowel or not? And do these rules apply with Adjectives as well?

Thanks

Answer 1

Most nouns do not change gender, because it is the word that has a gender, not what the word is referring to. Your "interés" falls into this category. It is a masculine noun and will not change gender regardless of the gender of the possessive adjective describing it.

But some nouns will change gender based on the physical gender of what they are referring to: perro = male dog, perra = female dog etc.

And a few nouns will not change gender even if the physical gender of what they are referring to does: el artista = male artist, la artista = female artist etc.

Adjectives that have gender (a/o endings) generally will change gender to match the noun they are describing (-ista adjectives are an exception).

Thanks a lot! Great answer - Vaderluke, Feb 22, 2017

You're welcome :) - jellonz, Feb 22, 2017

Thanks this is really helpful. :) - Lilby8, Feb 22, 2017