Are there feminine and masculine versions for every adjective and noun?

Question

I'm wondering if there are feminine and masculine versions of every adjective or noun like "Genio" and "Enfadado" ( Which are masculine I think ) and if not how are they used for opposite genders?

Answer 1

No, there are personal nouns in Spanish which are the same for masculine and feminine.

artista

1. m. y f. Persona que cultiva alguna de las bellas artes.

And you'll see it has the m. y f. (masculino y femenino) in all its entries. You can have other examples like "poeta", "testigo" or "pianista". These are called "sustantivos invariables en género". These are NOT "gender-neutral" nouns.

You would have the same for some adjectives like "amable".

Ella es guapa y amable, pero él también es guapo y amable.

These are called adjetivos invariables. Some other examples: feliz, idiota, inteligente, obediente.

Answer 2

Adjectives must match in gender and number with the noun they modify; therefore, all adjectives have masculine and feminine form. Nevertheless, some adjectives are invariable, meaning that the masculine and feminine forms are the same. For instance:

El edificio azul --- La casa azul

As for nouns referring to people, some of them have masculine and feminine forms, which, again, can be the same or not. So we have:

• Variable: El conductor --- La conductora
• Invariable: El artista --- La artista

But some other nouns only have one form, which can be used for men and for women. Take into account that, in Spanish, grammatical gender has a strong correlation with sex, but does not always match. Some nouns, referring to people, which have only one gender:

Judit Polgar fue un genio precoz del ajedrez.

Tom Cruise es una estrella de cine.

Polgar is a woman and Cruise, a man, but you can use a masculine noun for her and a feminine one for him.