el/la alba

Question

In the dictionary, SpanishDict labels "alba" as "feminine noun", although the examples given correctly treat it as a masculine noun.

Answer 1

It is a feminine noun which uses el as the definite article just like agua.

There is a rule in Spanish that if the word starts with a stressed "a" and it is feminine, then "el" is used instead of "a"

This is also done with un / una. See the following link:

indefinite articles

This is done to avoid the clumsiness of having two "a's" sounded consecutively, similar to the way that the pronouns le and les are replaced with se. So you never say le lo, le los, le la or le las. These become se lo, se los, se la and se las.

Example:

John gave the book to Maria.

John le lo da.
John se lo da.
John gave it to her.

Answer 2

For more examples, see the Exceptions section on this page.