Changes to words when its article is followed by a vowel.
RE: Grammar I learned that when an article & it's following word both begin with a vowel, the article changes to masculine. For example: "el agua," BUT with the word "idea," the translations show, "la idea". Please advise, & Thank you.
3 Answers
No, it's about the phonetics.
"La agua" changes to "el agua" for phonetic purposes.
La agua... would sound like "laa-gwa" ...so it's changed to "el"
It's because the "a" in agua, is the tonic syllable.... A-gua
Á-guila = el águila
It's when (la) meets A-
You can say "la al-FOM-bra" ...but you have to say "el A-gua"
Get used to how words are syllabicated in Spanish and that's it.
I do not believe it is for all vowels. la changes to el when followed by words beginning with ha or a. This because la agua would be pronounced lagua. but "la idea" remains "la idea"
For the same reason that "Voy a almorzar" changes to "Voy almorzar" only when spoken.
Also y changes to e when followed by words beginning with y, i or hi
Dear Rosetta7d, I don't really understand your question, but it looks like you were ill-advised. You use masculine (el/los) articles with masculine words (these usually end in o and other letters, but there are exceptions, such as agua). You use feminine articles (la, las) with feminine words (idea).
If you are unsure of whether a word is feminine or masculine, you can look it up and masculine or feminine will appear next to it. Note- agua is a weird exception: in its' singular form it is masculine (el agua) in the plural it's feminine (las aguas).
I hope this helps!
Atentaente, Kerri
