Stressed A

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A tónica

There’s an interesting phenomenon in Spanish to do with feminine nouns that begin with a stressed A sound (which may be written a, á, or or ha). When these nouns are singular and preceded directly by a definite article,* the masculine article is used instead of the feminine article you would expect.

Feminine words that begin with stressed A:

el acta		act, record
el ágata		agate
el agua		water
el águila		eagle
el ala		wing
el alba		dawn
el alga		seaweed
el álgebra		algebra
el alma		woman, soul
el alza		raise
el ama		housewife
el anca		haunch
el ancla		anchor
el ánfora		amphora
el ánima		anima, soul
el ansia		yearning
el arca		chest, box
el área		area
el arma		weapon
el arpa		harp
el arte		art
el asa		handle
el asma		asthma
el aspa		fan blade, cross
el asta		flagpole
el aula		classroom
el aura		aura
el ave		bird
el haba		fava bean
el habla		speech
el hacha		axe
el hada		fairy
el hambre		hunger

 Notes

* When dealing with an indefinite article, Spanish speakers will more use the masculine form in front of these words, but the feminine article is also correct.

1. Despite the masculine article, these nouns are feminine, which means that everything but the singular definite article must agree with them, including:

• plural articles
• adjectives (including descriptive, possessive, demonstrative, etc.)

Por ejemplo…

¿Dónde están las aves?		Where are the birds?
Tengo el arca muy bonita.		I have the very pretty box.
No me gusta esta aula.		I don’t like this classroom.

2. When there is an adjective between the article and noun, the article is feminine:

Es la última arma.		It’s the last weapon.
¿Es una buena hada?		Is it a good fairy?

3. The addition of a diminutive changes the word stress and the new word is able to take the feminine article:

la aguililla		little eagle
la hachita		hatchet

More examples with sound files

 Related lessons

• Gender exceptions
• Articles

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