¿el área o la área?

Question

Is the word ¨área like agua in that it is feminine but takes the ¨el¨ for the singular?,,,if you added an adjective would it then use ¨la¨, as in ¨la primera área¨?

Thanks!

Answer 1

Yes, it's feminine, but it starts with the A sound and it's stressed on the first syllable, so it's el área. Yes, it would revert to la it it wasn't right in front of área. The only reason to use el in front of feminine nouns is to avoid the double stressed A sounds.