Titles

Spanish titles
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Títulos

Titles are important in Spanish, and they are used somewhat differently than their English counterparts.

  1. Spanish titles are not capitalized, except at the beginning of a sentence or when abbreviated.
  2. When they precede a name, Spanish titles must sometimes be preceded by the definite article.
  3. There are masculine and feminine versions of most titles.
Spanish title Abbreviation   English title
señor Sr.   Mr.
señora Sra.   Mrs.
señorita Srta.   Miss
don D.   Sir
doña Dª, Dña   Lady
doctor Dr.   Dr. (male)
doctora Dra.   Dr. (female)
profesor Prof.   Professor (male)
profesora Profa.   Professor (female)
santo Sn   Saint (male)
santa Sta   Saint (female)

Spanish titles and definite articles

When speaking about a titled person in Spanish, you need to precede the title with the definite article.

Por ejemplo…

El señor Cruz no está aquí.   Mr. Cruz is not here.
¿Dónde vive la profesora Manuel?   Where does Professor Manuel live?

However, when you are speaking to the person, you do not use the definite article:

Señor Cruz, ¿cómo está Ud.?   Mr. Cruz, how are you?
Por favor, Profesora Manuel, espere un momento.   Professor Manuel, please wait a moment.

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Titles in Spanish

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