Why is it el agua not la agua ?

Question

Why is it, since agua ends in an 'a' and it should be a feminine noun. For feminine nouns, I thought we should put la in front of it? And if the noun does not end in 'a' or 'o', then is it true that it is considered as a masculine noun automatically ?

Becuase Spanish is messed up. - epicfail, JUL 16, 2010

Answer 1

It is under special rule when the substitution of el for la takes place only when it comes immediately before a singular noun that begins with a stressed a- or ha-. A few examples:

el agua (the water) el ama de casa (the housewife) el asma (asthma) el arca (the ark) el hambre (hunger) el hampa (the underworld) el arpa (the harp) el águila (the eagle)

Thanks for the examples! - LateToDinner, JUL 16, 2010

Answer 2

Hi Kayla

This question has been asked many times before, please do a search before posting a question.

El agua, el agua, el agua el agua.

Jen, do you think perhaps we need a larger, more obvious S E A R C H box? - Yeser007, JUL 16, 2010

That would be great, maybe we could make it neon and flashing? - --Jen--, JUL 16, 2010

I agree. We could put it above the "ask a question" box. - --Mariana--, JUL 16, 2010

Or maybe have it automatically open when someone clicks Ask a Question. - LateToDinner, JUL 16, 2010

Answer 3

To answer your other question:

No, gender is not assigned by default. There are patterns for recognizing gender, but most of the patterns have exceptions. The are invariable nouns that have the same form whether referring to either sex and just the definite article changes (el artista, la artista).

The only sure way to know the gender of a noun is to learn it when you learn the noun or consult a dictionary.