Words that begin with sound of A

Question

Words that start with the a sound use the direct article of 'el' for example:

el agua
el área
el hacha

but are those words still femine when you apply adjectives to them or are the masculine

el área es larga
o
el área es largo

Gracias de antemano

Answer 1

If the word/noun is masculine then the adjective must correspond to the word/noun, however, in the example you have given aréa is feminine so the adjective is larga.

Answer 2

They are fully feminine nouns. "El" is used only because they start with A and their first syllable is stressed. In short, it was decided that "el" sounds better with these words. Therefore, we say la aventura. Note also that the above nouns take "las" rather than "los" in the plural: las aguas, las áreas, las hachas.

Answer 3

Gracias por ayudarme. Así lo aprendí yo también pero el diccionario dice que algunas de estas palabras son masculinas y entonces me confundí. Por ejemplo dice que la palabra area es masculina.

Answer 4

Hi nate
No existe la palabra "masculina"

Answer 5

oops si es cierto

Answer 6

Por ejemplo dice que la palabra area es masculina

Hmmm, I see what you mean. (And, Eddy, "masculina" is a perfectly good word.) But "las áreas" gets nearly a million googits, while "los áreas" gets only about 3000.

What do the natives say'

Answer 7

Hi Nate
Take note of what James has said, however, bear in mind that if an adjective is used in front of a verb where cacophony (forced sound) occured, you revert back to the female definite article, example
El agua - The water (cacophony)
La misma agua - The same water (no cacophony)

Answer 8

No, lo que es cierto es que "palabra masculina" es correcta.

Answer 9

Could it be a simple error in the dictionary? I just checked other online diciconaries and they list the words as femine.

Answer 10

You guys cover everything so well, not much anyone could add to it (them').

Answer 11

So it is.

Answer 12

Surely in the plural the definite article reverts to "default" ie

el agua - las aguas

Answer 13

The question is whether área is masculine or feminine. Some dictionaries list it as masculine, including the one attached to this site, but googling seems to indicate otherwise.

Answer 14

All I can add is according to "Collins" dictionary, área is feminine.

Answer 15

Here is the definitive word:

The RAE says feminine. So the other dictionaries are wrong, and my original post stands.

[url=http://buscon.rae.es/draeI/SrvltConsulta'TIPO_BUS=3&LEMA=area]http://buscon.rae.es/draeI/SrvltConsulta'TIPO_BUS=3&LEMA=area[/url]