First of all, I am not a moderator:Me llamo Lauren. Tengo una familia pequeña. El señor Dallas es mi padre. Él es un maestro. La señora Karen es mi madre. Tengo una hermana, Michelle. Ella es un estudiante.   --- Mi novia estudia para ser abogado. Él tiene una familia grande. -- 
For vocabulary: www.memrise.com         I did the 1000 spanish words by frequency, and 501 verbs. I can now read most low-brow newspapers. Buena suerte!   

Hola Lauren!

Hello THoth!

Sí, puedes twittlo. Gracias por las correciones. Necesito poner más atención a lo que escribo.

Gracias to both of you for the feedback!

Hola Lauren,

Buena pregunta.

Generally ccupations change to match the gender, as follows:

La abogada / El abogado  = layer
La maestra / El maestro = teacher
La camarera / El camarero = waiter/waitress
La conductora / El conductor = driver
La doctora / El doctor = doctor

However there are a lot of cases where the noun (occupation) doesn't change (but we always have to change the article and the adjectives!)

La estudiante / El estudiante = student
La juez / El juez = judge
La policía / El policía = police officer
La taxista / El taxista = taxi driver

There is not a general rule to know when do they change. It is a good idea to write down both masculine and feminine when learning new vocabulary.

Thanks for sharing that. Maybe this could be reflected on the online flashcards or the lessons somehow? So that way we can learn as we go which ones change and which don't?

Hello Lauren,

I did a little research on when and why some occupations change to match the gender:

1- Professions ending -ISTA.
When the occupation ends -ista, profession remains the same and we only change the article:

el / la artista (artist)
el / la deportista (athlete)
el / la periodista (journalist)
el / la oficinista (clerk/office worker)
el / la taxista (taxi driver)
el / la recepcionista (recepcionist)

2- Professions ending -E
Usually remain the same, with a few exceptions

el / la dibujante (illustrator)
el / la estudiante (student)
el / la gerente (manager)
el / la cantante (singer)
el / la agente (agent)
el / la ayudante (assistant)

Exeptions professions ending -e that change in feminine:
el cliente/ la clienta (client)
el dependiente/ la dependienta (shop assistant/ sales clerk)
el presidente/ la presidenta (president)

3- Professions ending -OR
Usually change to -ORA, with fewer exemptions.

doctor / doctora (doctor)
profesor / profesora (teacher/ professor)
gobernador / gobernadora (gobernor)
vendedor / vendedora (sales)
escritor / escritora (writer)

Exceptions
el actor / la actriz
el emperador / la emperatriz

4- Professions ening –O generally change to -A

el cocinerlo / la cocinera (chef/ cook)
el peluquero / la peluquera (hair dresser)
el maestro / la maestra (teacher)
el abogado / la abogada (lawyer)
el jubilado / la jubilada (retired)

Exceptions:
el / la modelo

This is a good list of vocabulary to start studying!

I read that the feminine forms for professions are used more and more every day and they have been accepted more and more by linguists. Language is changing continuously and words that were not accepted by the official Spanish Language Institutions in the past have been accepted recently because they became commonly used. A good example could be

Juez / Jueza (judge)
Aprendiz / aprendiza (apprentice, trainee)

Traditionally this professions were used only in masculine and depending on the country the feminine form could sound odd. In Spain, Argentina and Chile feminine forms of most professions are widely accepted while in other countries they are not used.

Language is a living thing that evolves and changes depending on how is used.

¡Que bien! Thank you so, so much for taking the time to do the research and look into this for me. I am adding this to my vocabulary folder. 

My pleasure! / ¡Un placer!

Thank you for bringing new topics to the forum!

Hola me llamo Paris. Tengo diez y sies anos. Yo asisto a la escuela de secundaria. Yo vivo en Nueva York con mis padres, mi hermana y mi sobrino. Mi mama es la profesora, mi papa es camerero y mi hermana es representante de servicio al cliente. En el futuro me gustaria ser la abogada. Mi pasatiempo incluyen ayudando otras personas, ir de compras, cocinar la comida y empetando.

 

that is da best i can do. anyone care to help?

Hello Separis!

First, thank you for being part of our forum. Let's review your writing exercise:

1. Tengo diez y sies anos. - Tengo dieciséis años.
Here a quick link to the numbers in Spanish. From 1 to 30 we use only one word, after 31 we start using the combination trenta y uno, trenta y dos...

2. Mi mama es la profesora, mi papa es camerero y mi hermana es representante de servicio al cliente.
- Mi mama es profesora (we will not use the article in this case)
- camarero = waiter (only a typo there! :) )

3. En el futuro me gustaria ser la abogada.
- En el futuro me gustaría ser abogada (we will not use the article in this case)

4. Mi pasatiempo incluyen ayudando otras personas, ir de compras, cocinar la comida y empetando.
Mis pasatiempos (plural because you are describing many things and you are using the verb incluir in plural too)

Not sure what do you mean by empetando. Maybe empezando?

Please post any questions you may have or more writing!