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Spanish Gender Rules. Why is "agua" masculine in singular form and feminine in plural? "El agua" / "Las aguas"
2 years agoWhy is "agua" masculine in singular form and feminine in plural? "El agua" / "Las aguas" ¿Por qué decimos "el agua" si es una palabra femenina?
The noun "agua" is feminine (as you can see in the plural form "las aguas"), but starts with a stressed "a". In this case, the preceding article must change for phonetic reasons: la -> el and una -> un.
The same happens with nouns which start with a stressed "ha" (ex: "el hacha"), but not with nouns which start with other vowels (ex: "la isla", "la épica", "la obra", "la uña").
The stress on the starting syllable is fundamental. In the feminine noun "la almohada", the stress is on the second "a", not on the starting one, so the article remains "la". Same for "la harina", whose stress is on the second syllable.
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