Is it "el azúcar blanco" or "el azúcar blanca"?
Is "azúcar" grammatically a feminine word although it has the masculine definite article "el"?
5 Answers
If you look in this article you will see they use "el azúcar blanco" and "el azúcar moreno"
Our dictionary says the word is both masculine and feminine and shows
azúcar blanquilla as well as azúcar moreno
Interesting question. When is it feminine? When is it masculine?
To answer the original question look in the RAE dictionary.
It lists both azúcar blanco and azúcar blanca but gives no hint to when to use one or the other.
After looking at several sites, it seems that azúcar is like the word "mar". Some people say that it is el mar, others la mar. The distinction has blurred over region and time.
Here are some different reasonings:
el azúcar — sugar — Although azúcar is a masculine word when standing alone, it is often used with feminine adjectives, as in azúcar blanca (white sugar).
Not necessarily masculine or feminine
Great question.
New note 2013:
The link added by the colleague above seems to be outdated. This is the current entry in the Diccionario Panhispánico de Dudas (which you can access from www.rae.es as well):
The link added by the colleague above seems to be outdated. This is the current entry in the Diccionario Panhispánico de Dudas (which you can access from www.rae.es as well): http://lema.rae.es/dpd/?key=azúcar
Greetings from Spain!
It's "el azúcar blanca". "Azúcar" is feminine and always takes feminine adjectives except "el" instead of "la" and "un" instead of "una".
This type of nouns require masculine articles when in singular and feminine articles in plural. Adjectives always in feminine. El azúcar + , las azúcares blancas.
strong textyes it is acceptable though most people say "el azúcar" rather than "la azúcar" and yes it is acceptable to say "el azúcar blanco or blanca".
So either way, "el azúcar blanco" or "el azúcar blanca", is acceptable?
