For many professions, we have a specific ending.
1. In many cases, this ending is -ero/-era (example: panadero-panadera for baker, or carnicero-carnicera for butcher). When we talk about the shop, the ending is -ería (example: panadería for bakery, carnicería for butcher’s).
Un relojero trabaja en una relojería. Relojero: watchmaker
Un panadero trabaja en una panadería. Panadero: baker
Un peluquero trabaja en una peluquería. Peluquero: hairdresser
Un frutero trabaja en una frutería. Frutero: greengrocer
Un carnicero trabaja en una carnicería. Carnicero: butcher
Compro flores en la floristería/florería. Floristería (in Spain) or florería (in Latin America): florist’s
Compro libros en la librería. Librería: bookshop (not to be confused with “biblioteca”, meaning library)
Compro juguetes en la juguetería. Juguetería: toy shop
Of course, we have much more cases, like mueblería (furniture shop), vinería (winery), joyería (jewelry), ferretería (ironmonger’s).
2. In other cases, the ending is -or/-ora, so we have jugador or jugadora (player), vendedor or vendedora (seller), locutor or locutora (speaker), lector or lectora (reader). Notice that we have a different form for a female actor (actriz).
3. Words ending in -ist in English tend to end with -ista in Spanish, but this -a doesn’t mean that the word is feminine, it is only a filler. Why do we put a filler? Because in Spanish, we do not have two consonants at the end of words, so when this happens in English and the word is a cognate, we put an additional vowel to make the pronunciation easier for us. Take a look:
English: artist, economist, constant, excellent
Spanish: artista, economista, constante, excelente
And what is a cognate? Words that are similar in two languages because they have the same root. Between English and Spanish, we have a huge amount of Latin cognates: to repeat (repetir), to compete (competir), to respond (responder). You can recognise them (recognise and cognate are very similar words, do you see? They have the same root).
Back to our topic. Remember that the words ending in -ista don’t change in the masculine form. For example, ‘Juan es dentista’ and ‘María es dentista’. We don’t have dentistas y dentistos! This is a very common ending, here you have more examples:
acuarelista – watercolourist
ajedrecista – chess player
analista – analyst
anestesista – anaesthetist
automovilista – motorist
dietista – dietician
electricista – electrician
esteticista – beauty specialist
guionista – scriptwriter
humorista – humorist
novelista – novelist
oculista – ophthalmologist
psicoanalista – psychoanalyst
publicista – advertising agent
recepcionista – recepcionist
socorrista – lifeguard
They are very common for musicians:
baterista – drummer
clarinetista – clarinetist
guitarrista – guitarist
pianista – pianist
saxofonista – saxophonist
trompetista – trumpeter
And for sports:
beisbolista – baseball player
ciclista – cyclist
futbolista – football player
golfista – golfer
surfista – surfer
4. We also have the endings -ante/-ente:
asistente – assistant
cantante – singer
comediante – comedian
Again, we don’t change the final letter here. Remember that words ending with -e are unisex in Spanish. However, there is a tendency to say things like ‘presidenta’, for example, to emphasise the fact that the person is a woman, but grammatically speaking, it is totally incorrect. We must say ‘el presidente’ or ‘la presidente’.
