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Feminine forms ending in '-esa', '-isa' and '-triz'

Most Spanish nouns for people switch from masculine to feminine in a simple way: amigo becomes amiga, profesor becomes profesora. A small group of titles and professions does something different. Instead of adding or changing a final -a, they take a special feminine ending: -esa, -isa or -triz. So a príncipe has a princesa, an actor has an actriz, and an emperador has an emperatriz.

English speakers often guess these forms by following the regular rule and produce words like actora or emperadora, which sound wrong to native speakers. English has similar leftovers (prince/princess, actor/actress), but the Spanish pairs do not always match the English ones, so it pays to learn them as a set.

Word list
actormA1 actor el actor, la actriz (not actora) actrizfA1 actress el actor, la actriz (plural actrices) princesafA2 princess el príncipe, la princesa (loses -ipe) príncipemA2 prince el príncipe, la princesa barónmB1 baron el barón, la baronesa alcaldemB2 mayor el alcalde, la alcaldesa (not alcalda) alcaldesafB2 mayor el alcalde, la alcaldesa emperadormB2 emperor el emperador, la emperatriz (not emperadora) emperatrizfB2 empress el emperador, la emperatriz (plural emperatrices) baronesafC1 baroness el barón, la baronesa (accent dropped)
How it works

These endings build a noun for a female person from the masculine noun. They are not a general rule for grammatical gender: a thing ending in -esa, like la mesa, is feminine simply because of its -a, not because it belongs to this group.

  • -triz replaces -tor or -dor: actor → actriz, emperador → emperatriz. This one really does come straight from Latin -trix.
  • -esa is added to the base of the masculine word: barón → baronesa, alcalde → alcaldesa. It reached Spanish through Latin, which borrowed it from Greek, and Spanish then kept using it on its own words.
  • -isa is the rarest. It survives in a few words such as poetisa and sacerdotisa (priestess).

Rule of thumb: if the masculine is a title of rank or ends in -tor or -dor for a stage or throne role, check whether the feminine is -esa or -triz before adding -a.

The words
The -triz pairs

Watch the spelling in the plural: the z becomes c, giving actrices and emperatrices.

Mi hermano quiere ser actor de teatro.
(My brother wants to be a stage actor.)
La actriz ganó un premio por su última película.
(The actress won an award for her latest film.)
El emperador vivía en un palacio enorme.
(The emperor lived in an enormous palace.)
La emperatriz gobernó durante treinta años.
(The empress ruled for thirty years.)
The -esa pairs

Note that príncipe loses its -ipe before the ending, and barón drops its written accent because the stress moves.

El príncipe llegó en un coche negro.
(The prince arrived in a black car.)
Mi hija se disfrazó de princesa para la fiesta.
(My daughter dressed up as a princess for the party.)
El barón heredó el castillo de su padre.
(The baron inherited the castle from his father.)
La baronesa organizó una cena elegante.
(The baroness organized an elegant dinner.)

Alcaldesa is a useful everyday case: English just says mayor for both, but Spanish normally marks a woman mayor with -esa.

La alcaldesa inauguró el nuevo parque.
(The mayor opened the new park.)
Watch out
  • The typical mistake is applying the normal rule: say la actriz, not la actora, and la emperatriz, not la emperadora.
  • Not every pair uses these endings. Rey and reina are simply two different words, and dios / diosa or juez / jueza just add -a.
  • The -isa ending is fading. Many writers now prefer la poeta to poetisa, which some find old-fashioned.
  • Only some titles follow the pattern: conde gives condesa, but you cannot add -esa to any noun you like.
Summary

When a masculine title or role ends in -tor or -dor, or is a noble rank like príncipe or barón, don't just add -a: the woman is often an actriz, an emperatriz, a princesa, a baronesa or an alcaldesa. Learn these pairs together, remember that -triz becomes -trices in the plural, and treat -isa as a rare, fading ending.