Ways to say it
| Spanish | IPA | Note |
|---|---|---|
| empleado | /empleˈado/ | masculine |
| empleada | /empleˈada/ | feminine |
The term refers to a person who provides labor to a company or another person. For males, empleado is the most common and widely understood term. For females, empleada is the most common and widely understood term.
Which one should you use?
Use empleado for a male employee and empleada for a female employee.
Is it said differently in some regions?
In Argentina and Uruguay, the term laburante is often used in informal contexts to describe an employee or worker. In some formal settings, especially in Latin America, the term personal is used to refer to employees collectively.
How does it change in a sentence?
The plural form of empleado is empleados. The plural form of empleada is empleadas. Use the masculine plural empleados to refer to a group of male employees or a mixed-gender group of employees.
How do you pronounce it?
/empleˈado/
Did you know?
- When referring to a group of employees in a formal business document in Spain, you might see the collective term plantilla, which literally translates to 'template' or 'stencil'.
- The informal term laburante used in Argentina and Uruguay comes from the Italian word lavoro meaning 'work'.
- In Spanish, the word empleado can also be used as an adjective to describe something that has been used or consumed, such as time or resources.
Examples in context
- Tom es un empleado.Tom is an employee.This sentence is useful for stating that Tom is an empleado.Tatoeba #5009407 by albrusgher, translation #2272945 by CK
- Él despidió al empleado.He dismissed the employee.This sentence is useful for describing the dismissal of an empleado.Tatoeba #5009413 by albrusgher, translation #290998 by rul
- Él es un empleado joven.He's a junior employee.This sentence is useful for describing a junior empleado.Tatoeba #5009426 by albrusgher, translation #1771719 by Spamster
- La nueva empresa tiene muchos empleados altamente calificados.The new company has many highly qualified employees.
- Los trabajadores de la fábrica están organizando una huelga.The factory workers are organizing a strike.
- Carmen es una colaboradora excelente, siempre aporta nuevas ideas al equipo.Carmen is an excellent employee, she always brings new ideas to the team.
- 35 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
María and Alejandro are talking about a new colleague at the office.
- MaríaHola Alejandro, ¿quién es el nuevo empleado?Hello Alejandro, who is the new employee?
- AlejandroEs Juan, el nuevo empleado de marketing.It's Juan, the new marketing employee.
- MaríaParece que es un empleado muy trabajador.He seems to be a very hardworking employee.
- AlejandroSí, es el mejor empleado del equipo.Yes, he is the best employee on the team.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “employee” translations and entries empleado, empleada, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
