What determines when I use jarra or jarro?

Question

If I have a water pitcher, do I say el jarro de agua or la jarra de agua? If I have a pitcher of cream, do I say la jarra de crema or el jarro de crema?

How do I determine which one to use? I am a beginner in Spanish, so please excuse my lack of understanding. Thank you.

Answer 1

Jarra is also used to mean a smaller "pitcher" or what we would call a mug. For example, you can have your cerveza in "una jarra" instead of in "una botella." I know because the first time I thought I had ordered a pitcher of beer, but it was just a mug of beer. And I was sad.

Lol :) - Kiwi-Girl, MAY 25, 2010

I read this yesterday, and had to come back today to give you a vote. I am still laughing to myself about the ...And I was sad! : ) - mar959, MAY 26, 2010

Answer 2

Se puede chequearlo en Wikipedia en español. Dice que un jarro puede tener una asa o no, y una jarra tiene una o dos asas. Me parace que los jarros son mas grandes. Hay jarras espcialmente por beber la cerveza.

You can check it in Wikipedia in Spanish. It says a jarro can have one handle or not, and a jarra can have one or two handles. It appears to me that jarros are bigger, There are jarras especially for drinking beer.

Answer 3

Creo que este asunto es como la problema con "la bolsa" y "el bolso". La es la que es mas pequeño; el es el que es mas grande (en general). la bolsa = small bag/purse el bolso = larger bag (although not something you'd call equipaje)

Answer 4

agua is feminine. el is used with it so you don't have the "la a" sound. However if you use plural, it's las aguas. Others are aguila, ama, aula, ave. It also applies to ha words like hacha.

Answer 5

Masculine and Feminine

Jarra - feminine

Jarro - masculine

Answer 6

I find that "jarra" possibly may designate a pitcher or jug with one handle. Other than that, I can't locate the precise difference.

Answer 7

I find Google Images to be a good way of determining the difference between similar words. If you do an image search for jarro and a search for jarra, there's no clear-cut distinction, but in general those pictures labelled 'jarra' are more dainty, and those labelled 'jarro' are more stout.

Answer 8

"jarra" is a noun and it's feminine. So it's always going to be "la jarra". Agua is masculine but that doesn't affect the feminine noun "la jarra".

Answer 9

Una jarra de cerveza. Una taza de café o de té. Un jarrón de flores.

Pero creo en México existen los jarros para tomar café, chocolate, atole o bebidas calientes en general. Del mismo modo, en Chile, se usa casi exclusivamente Jarro.

el jarro esta lleno de agua

Then just to confuse you you have' jarros de barro para beber' - drinking jug with spout. As in botijo, piporro