Why is EL agua, if agua ends with "a"?

Question

I just watched lesson 1.3 and the teacher put 'el' article with agua even though agua is feminine. Are there some special rules and for which words? Thank you in advance.

Agua is not feminine. If Lazurus reads this his head is going to spin around like Beetleguice. - Beatrice-Codder, May 28, 2011

You mean, Agua is not masculine. Agua is feminine. - pesta, May 28, 2011

That's it. Shut your boca, Beatrice. Your going to get us in trouble. - Beatrice-Codder, May 28, 2011

Answer 1

Some words that start with a "a" or "ha" use the masculine singular article even if they are feminine. I think the reasoning is that it would be difficult to pronounce "la" followed by a word starting with the "a" phoneme. In the plural, these words take the feminine definite article.

el agua -> las aguas

Excellent answer! - fjfuentesh, May 28, 2011

Thank you :) - minjabuuu, May 28, 2011

Answer 2

Feminine nouns that start with "a" or "ha" and have the stress on the first syllable use "el" instead of "la", but only in the singular. It just sounds better that way, I guess.

el águila (the eagle) --> las águilas (the eagles); el área (the area) --> las áreas (the areas); el hada (the fairy) --> las hadas (the fairies);

but

la acera (the sidewalk) --> las aceras (the sidewalks); la habichuela (the bean) --> las habichuelas (the beans)

Thank you so much! Perfect explanation - minjabuuu, May 28, 2011

Answer 3

There are many answers to your question on previous threads.

Edit: Apparently this link must be pasted.

http://www.spanishdict.com/answers/search

Answer 4

Because it sounds better than "la agua". It's kind of hard to say that way.

Thank you :) - minjabuuu, May 28, 2011

just fixed a typo Beatrice, I didn't want Beatrice to come by and see it :) - Yeser007, May 28, 2011

Answer 5

Welcome to SD. If you click on Answers above you can search for this topic. It has been discussed many times.

Thank you :) - minjabuuu, May 28, 2011