Nouns: gender

1) General rule
English nouns rarely change form, even to indicate gender. As a general
rule, only nouns referring to people and some animals
reflect gender in their form. By the same token, unlike
many other languages, the adjectives modifying nouns will
remain unchanged.
Example: My poor little dog died.

2) However, certain nouns -- especially those
referring to people -- may have different forms to indicate
masculin or feminine usage:
man -- woman
gentleman -- lady
actor -- actress
uncle -- aunt
father -- mother


The same can be said of certain male and female animals:
a buck, a doe
a ram, a ewe
a bull, a cow
a stallion, a mare


3) In other cases, the word "male" or "female" is added, if it is considered necessary to be specific:
a female cat
a male giraffe

4) Pronouns
Note: If the gender of the person or animal is known, one will generally use the pronoun "he" or "she" to refer to it, as appropriate. When the gender is left unstated, the pronoun "he" is generally used when speaking of people, or "it"
when speaking of animals. Some objects are also considered
to be gendered in certain usages: some people may refer to
a boat or a car as "she."

5) Man/Woman
Certain nouns (especially the names of professions) are
traditionally associated with men or women, in which case
one signals exceptions to the tradition by adding "woman"
(or "lady") or "man" to the term:
They are in a group of male dancers.
My wife prefers to see a woman doctor.