How come el agua is not la agua. I thought if a word ended in a it would be feminine?
How come el agua is not la agua. I thought if a word ended in a it would be feminine?
6 Answers
"Agua" is femenine, sure, but in spanish exists one thing called "cacofonía". It means that the sounds with ended vocal and started vocal sound bad.
Try to pronounce it:
"lA_Agua"
Another words like this:
El águila ("lA_Águila" would sound bad)
It's like in english the article "A" when the next word starts with vocal: "an orange"
Greetings!
It's because of the way it sounds when the first syllable is stressed, however remember the word still remains feminine for the plural (las aguas).
Other examples of a female word apparently changing sex in the singular are el arma, el hacha and el águila.
I did a couple of flashcard sets for anyone interested which cover:
Masculine nouns ending with an a
And female nouns that apparently change sex in the singular.
Hope they help.
Your "rule" is not a rule. It is a general observation about most (but, by no means, all) nouns in Spanish.
P.S. The real rule is: "The gender of a noun is whatever Spanish speakers, in general, agree that it is." (there are precedents but, ultimately, it is arbitrary).
P.P.S. The easiest way to find out what the agreed upon/prevailing opinion is, is to consult the Dictionary of the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language. They provide the gender for every entry that is a noun.
There are many Spanish words that end in "a" that are masculine:
el problema el telegrama el programa el mapa el sistema el poema el día el tema el clima el idioma el sofá el planeta
Notice that many (but not all) of the words that end in "-ma" are masculine
However, agua is feminine and it is "el agua" because:
Any feminine noun that begins with a stressed "a" sound uses the masculine articles in the singular:
El agua, Las aguas: El agua fría
or
El hacha, un hacha but Las hachas
El arma, Las armas
etc.
This is similiar to the fact that "a" turns to "an" in English before a vowel sound for improved ease of pronunciation.
You do not do this if the inital "a" sound is not stressed.
La alfombra, una alfombra
That is the rule, but there are many exceptions. Another one that comes to mind is mano (hand). La mano.
There are some where the noun never changes according to gender, like policía. Depending on whether you are referring to a male or female you could say la policía or el policía.
