''El aula'' o ''La aula''?

Question

Hi all!

l saw this word lately, and l'm confused because l've seen it in the feminine form: La aula = classroom & the masculine one El aula = classroom!

So which one is right? is it feminine or masculine?

Thank you ^_^

Hi Lovely! - pacofinkler, Jun 24, 2011

Hi Paco :) - 00b6f46c, Jun 24, 2011

Lovely, go to the link in my post - pacofinkler, Jun 24, 2011

Answer 1

Aula is a feminine noun, but you say el aula. Why? Because there is a rule that if the word starts with "a" or "ha" and the accent is on the first syllable, you must use "el" regardless of gender.

Note that the plural changes to las aulas.

Some other words that this rule applies to:

el agua --> las aguas

el águila --> las águilas

el hada --> las hadas

I missed the "a" sounds Thanks Gintar - pacofinkler, Jun 24, 2011

It's cool. It's a very common mistake and easily overlooked even if you know the rule. - gintar77, Jun 24, 2011

Good explanation Ginatr. Thank you :) - HotChickCD, Jun 24, 2011

Muchas gracias! - 00b6f46c, Jun 25, 2011

Answer 2

" Aula" femenine noun" Drae. Therefore " El aula" is correct because you cannot have the two " A" sounds together, As Gintar says in his post. But when you go to plural it becomes " las aulas"

Edit,correction

link text

Mmm now l'm confused because l just saw a question about that and Heidi said it was masculine! well if it's from the Drae than it's right! thank you Paco :) - 00b6f46c, Jun 24, 2011

Thank you Frank for sharing *hugs* - HotChickCD, Jun 24, 2011

Thank you Paco ^_^ - 00b6f46c, Jun 25, 2011