articles el and la

Question

hola , my question is, agua ends in a and the article for it is el... and carne ends in e and the article is la ....WHY?

Answer 1

Hola esraturkey! ¡Bienvenida al foro! Welcome to the forum!

This is one of the most often asked questions around here. It seems tricky at first, but you'll be surprised how simple the explanation is. Check this link out:

el agua

Bien hecho. - EL_MAG0, Mar 13, 2011

Answer 2

There is a rule. "The masculine article is used before a feminine singular noun beginning with "a" or "ha" **if ** the "a" or "ha" takes the stress (whether marked with an accent mark or not). el agua, el águila, el hache. These take the feminine article when in the plural.

I notice the "if" did not take the bold command I intended. - Otravez, Mar 11, 2011

There is a space between the f and the asterisk, that's why. - Deanski, Mar 12, 2011

You answered wel. - EL_MAG0, Mar 13, 2011

Answer 3

muchos gracias!

muchas.. - Deanski, Mar 12, 2011

Answer 4

When I began taking Spanish I wondered the same thing.. I asked my teacher about it and it's a rule of Spanish that has to be memorized. El agua and la carne. Not sure if you've learned about jobs yet but most of those are el dentista, el florero, el barbero, etc. because the men used to hold all these jobs (and still do) in the Latin culture. Some things are definite el/la but some like agua have to be memorized

Hope this helps!