Learn about Spanish nouns ending in -ista and -crata
Nouns ending with -ista and -crata usually refer to people and can be either masculine or feminine, depending on who you are referring to.
Read and listen to these examples with the noun dentista:
La dentista dice que me lave los dientes todos los días.The (female) dentist told me to brush my teeth every day.
As you can see above, both masculine and feminine singular forms are identical. You only need to change the article to specify if it is male or female. To make the plural for either gender, simply add an -s.
Spanish nouns ending in -ista
Here you can see other nouns ending in -ista following the same rule as dentista, referring to jobs or someone supporting an idea or ideology:
- periodista (journalist)
- futbolista (football player)
- artista (artist)
- colonialista (colonialist)
- centrista (centrist)
- izquierdista (politically left-wing)
- derechista (politically right-wing)
Spanish nouns ending in -crata
Nouns ending in -crata denote someone "in favour of a government or an ideas system" and follow the same rule as the -ista nouns:
Bear in mind that lots of these nouns could also be used as adjectives, in which case the same rule applies. For example:
La feminista dio un gran discurso sobre la desigualdad de género. (noun)
The feminist (lady) gave a speech about gender inequality.
El conferenciante, que era feminista, dio un discurso sobre la desigualdad de género. (adjective)
The speaker (male), who was feminist, gave a speech about gender inequality.
See also Género.
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Examples and resources
Las demócratas respetan las opiniones ajenas.The (female) democrats respect other people's opinions.
La dentista dice que me lave los dientes todos los días.The (female) dentist told me to brush my teeth every day.
