El agua vs La Agua

Question

Why is it el agua instead of la agua?

Whoops, I realized this question was already asked. I now know the answer! - llamalovers000, May 14, 2014

It is because the 'a' is accented and the first letter. - llamalovers000, May 14, 2014

Saying 'el' prevents having the speaker pronounce it awkwardly. - llamalovers000, May 14, 2014

Answer 1

Words ending in "a" and also starting with "a" or "ha" need a masculine article in the singular way even if they are femenine words but only when the first sillable is the strong one.

El agua fría. Note the adjective is still femenine because "agua" actually is femenine. Las aguas frías. Note in the plural we use the femenine way.

Another examples; el águila el hacha

But for example: la alarma (because the strong sillable is not the first one ("a") but the second one ("lar"))

Hope this helps. You can find more useful Spanish tips in my website as well as interesting articles and native teachers for Spanish lessons, visit it!

Answer 2

Hello llamalover,

I am sure that you learnt a kind of general rule that words endng in the letter o are masculine while words ending in an a are feminine. Words ending in ión are also feminine!

Well, this is only intended as a guideline..there are obviously going to be exceptions and this word is one of them.

it should be: el agua This is correct

Other exceptions include words such as: el águila = eagle, el sistema = system, and el problema = problem,

Students of Spanish need to learn the article at the same time as they learn the word to avoid confusion at a later time.

I hope this helps

Answer 3

Interestingly, the plural is "las aguas", feminine. In fact, "agua" is a feminine noun even in its singular form, but the masculine article is used for pronunciation.

Well done, Noetal, I had forgotten to mention the plural form and the reason for the difference between the massculine and feminine articles :) - FELIZ77, May 15, 2014

Answer 4

If you are referring to the noun water, then it should be El Agua

Now if you are referring to the verb "to spoil" as in "to spoil the party," then you can write it as la agua

Example: No importa lo bien que organice la fiesta de fin de año, el siempre la agua. (It doesn't matter how well I organize the end of the year party, he always spoils it)

Any corrections welcome, if you think I am wrong.

It's correct but we say "la agua" because "la" in this case is a direct pronoun ("the party") is not an article. - SpanishSkypeorg, May 15, 2014

You are correct! I deviated a little here. I just wanted to share something that other might not know and this is why they have this forum. To Share. Please don't say WE. Spanish is my mother tongue. - juanmelgar, May 21, 2014