June 4, 2024

[Aroline Hanson, Ph.D.](https://blog.duolingo.com/author/aroline/)

# How do you use inclusive language in Spanish?

Spanish words are masculine or feminine—so how does the language become inclusive?

You probably have noticed that Spanish nouns have [grammatical gender](https://blog.duolingo.com/what-is-grammatical-gender/) and that when the noun is a person, the grammatical gender matches that person’s gender.

Does that make it hard for Spanish to be [gender inclusive](https://blog.duolingo.com/gender-neutral-language-and-pronouns/), like when referring to a person of unknown or non-binary gender? It turns out that Spanish grammar can be quite flexible—and so can its speakers!

## Grammatical gender in Spanish: an overview

In Spanish, objects can be [masculine ( _el libro_) or feminine ( _la cartera_)](https://blog.duolingo.com/what-is-grammatical-gender/) and which gender a word gets is [unrelated to its meaning](https://blog.duolingo.com/learning-grammatical-gender-rules/). When referring to a person, grammatical gender is the same as the gender of the person. For example, _una cocinera alta_ (a tall chef) refers to a chef who identifies as a woman while _un cocinero alto_ (a tall chef) refers to a chef who identifies as a man. But with only masculine and feminine options, this can leave out a lot of people.

Historically, the default in Spanish has been to treat a person of unknown gender or a group of people of mixed genders as masculine, so a single chef would be _el cocinero_ and a group of chefs would be _los cocineros_—even if the group includes people who aren't men!

However, [languages are always changing](https://blog.duolingo.com/why-do-languages-change/), and Spanish and many other languages are adapting to fit their speakers, including when it comes to gender. Now there are [gender-neutral pronouns](https://blog.duolingo.com/gender-neutral-language-and-pronouns/) in Spanish, like _elle_ and _elles_—but other Spanish words show gender, too. Here's what's happening across Spanish grammar!

## Spanish nouns get new forms

One way that many Spanish speakers make their language more gender inclusive is to mention women separately from men in the plural forms. For example, they might say the entire phrase _las cocineras y los cocineros_ instead of _los cocineros_. This strategy has become popular, but it still specifies gender and does not include those who are non-binary.

To refer to people in ways that are independent of their gender, another strategy is to use an alternative noun that doesn't specify gender, like _cónyuge_ (instead of _esposo_/ _a_ for "husband" and "wife") or _estudiante_ (instead of _alumno_/ _a_ for "student").

Speakers also do this is by changing the ending of the noun to - _e,_ since _-e_ isn't associated with men or women *or* masculine or feminine grammatical gender. For example, you might hear or see people use _le hije_ instead of _el hijo_ (the son) or _la hija_(the daughter). This new noun gets a new version of the word for "the," too: _le_!

You'll see the same strategy for referring to groups that include all genders or to refer to non-binary people—for example, the - _es_ ending can make the words _les alumnes_(the students) or _les amigues_(the friends). Some spelling changes may occur, such as the - _e_ to - _ue_ in _amigues_, to keep the same pronunciation of "g."

## Spanish gender-neutral pronouns

_Elle_ and _elles_ aren't the only gender-neutral pronouns in Spanish! You'll also find _nosotres_ for "we" and [_vosotres_ in Spain for "you all."](https://blog.duolingo.com/what-is-spanish-vosotros/) For example, the sentence _Nosotres preferimos paella con gambas_(We prefer paella with shrimp) includes all genders and identities.

For [direct object pronouns](https://blog.duolingo.com/direct-indirect-objects-spanish/), which are usually _lo_ and _la,_ Spanish speakers might use _le_ and _les_(the indirect object pronouns) instead, since they don't change for gender—for example, _Le llamamos a las ocho_(We call them/him/her/you [formal] at 8 o'clock). In fact, [many dialects of Spanish already use _le_ and _les_](https://blog.duolingo.com/spanish-dialects-differences-le-lo/) in some situations where _lo_ and _la_ were traditionally the only options!

## Spanish adjectives are included, too!

There's one more kind of word that changes for gender in Spanish: adjectives! Most Spanish adjectives have different forms for masculine and feminine, for example, _alto_ and _alta_ are forms of the adjective "tall."

Spanish speakers have a solution for them, too: When using gender-neutral nouns and pronouns, the corresponding adjectives get the ending - _e_ (for singular) or - _es_(for plural). For example, you can say, _Elle es alte_ for someone who is gender neutral or gender fluid. For a group of people of mixed gender or non-binary gender, you can say _Elles son altes_.

But there are also many Spanish adjectives that *don't* change according to gender, like _capaz_ (capable) and _interesante_(interesting). These are especially easy to use with a gender-neutral noun or pronoun, since they already don't change: _Ella es capaz_ (She is capable), _Él es capaz_ (He is capable), and _Elle es capaz_(They [one person] are capable).

## Spanish is for everyone ❤️

As you interact with Spanish speakers [from all over the world](https://blog.duolingo.com/spanish-dialects/) and [from different backgrounds](https://blog.duolingo.com/black-spanish-dialects/), you'll hear many kinds of Spanishes—including speakers who use these and other innovative ways to make Spanish more inclusive!