Which Article should I use?
I have a phrase with an adjective in front of it (especial musical), and I'm not sure whether I should use "el" or "la" in front of it. Is there a general rule about which word (the noun or the adjective) determines the gender of the article? ¡muchas gracias!
1 Answer
Hello Taska,
Welcome to Spanishdict 
You asked:
I have a phrase with an adjective in front of it (especial musical), and I'm not sure whether I should use "el" or "la" in front of it. Is there a general rule about which word (the noun or the adjective) determines the gender of the article? ¡muchas gracias!
In Spanish, the noun always determines the gender of the article and generally speaking most Spanish masculine nouns will take an appropriate masculine article; likewise feminine nouns will take a feminine one. That is why it is so important to learn the articles with the nouns /at the same time or you are likely to forgot and become quite confused!
There are exceptions and like everyone else you will just have to learn them individually (as you come across each one)
Some exceptions include:
el agua = (the) water; el águila (the) eagle; el problema (the) problem; el ave but las aves (the wing: masculine, but the wings: feminine) el sistema = (the) system.
I hope this helps
