"Why do you use el agua while it ends in an a?"

Question

Why do you use " el agua" while it ends in an "a"?

Answer 1

The noun 'agua' is feminine but the masculine article 'el' is used with it in order to avoid cacophony because the A in the feminine article LA and the first A of the noun 'agua' will produce a cacophonous sound if they are put together. The indefinite article is UN with such feminine gender nouns. 'Hay un águila fea en el zoo' / anoche vino un hada bonita a mi dormitorio ( the letter H is silent ). But when it's plural, you can use the feminine gender article LAS. El hada / las hadas. Remember, not all nouns that end in the letter A are feminine.

Answer 2

I think if you used the feminine "la" with agua, it would sound like one word and be confusing. Feminine words that begin with a stressed "a" or "ha" are preceded by "el" in the singular form only (el agua / the water, el águila / the eagle) The normal rules are followed in the plural form: las aguas and las águilas.

Answer 3

There are a few words that are an exception to the gender rule like diá for day is el diá. It is just one of those things you will have to memorize.

Answer 4

Hey Clov3ria, There are exceptions in all languages and Spanish is not different. In general, words ending at A are feminine but there are a few exceptions in this case too. Like el Agua, el día, el futbolista etc. Thankyou.

But read the previous responses. Agua IS a feminine noun. It is just used differently in the singular to make it sound better. - kdrinning, Mar 23, 2012

Answer 5

The explanations so far are a great help to me too. Another noun ending in a: el ala (the wing)

There are also nouns ending in o that are feminine e.g. la mano (the hand)