Please, do we say, 'el agua or la agua', ?
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we say el agua or la agua?
71643 views
updated Aug 3, 2010
edited by FELIZ77
posted by imen
3 Answers
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Why it is el agua and not la agua is a frequently asked question here. When a feminine noun begins with a stressed 'a' sound, the definite article la becomes el. For more information check out the links below.
updated Aug 3, 2010
posted by Jsanthara
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Agua is a feminine noun but you use el for the singular: el agua, las aguas. This is typical of femine nouns beginning with a accented 'a' and is a phonetic thing, avoiding the running together of the two a's. There is a short list of these words, including águila, and I can't think of others at the moment!
updated Aug 3, 2010
posted by Jeremias
el asta, and even el hacha (the initial h is silent) are two more examples - Jeremias, Aug 3, 2010
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Agua is a feminine noun indeed, but we say "el agua", because it starts with a vowel.
updated Aug 3, 2010
posted by maleine
Well yes, any vowel as long as it is "A" El Orinoco starts with a vowel as one example. - kenwilliams, Aug 3, 2010
El Orinoco is masculine, either way. - maleine, Aug 3, 2010
