El is the singular, masculine definite article, meaning "the," in Spanish and is used to define masculine nouns, while la is the feminine version. But there are a few instances where el is used with feminine nouns.
Gender in Words
An interesting thing about Spanish is the fact that words have gender. A word is considered male or female, depending on what the word refers to and how it ends. A general rule of thumb is if a word ends in -o, it is most likely masculine, and if a word ends in -a, it is most likely feminine. If the word is describing a female person, then the word is feminine and vice versa.
Definite Articles for Nouns
In most cases, el is used for masculine nouns and la is used for feminine nouns. Another rule supersedes this, and that is when the feminine noun is singular and starts with a stressed a- or ha- sound, like the words agua, meaning water, or hambre, meaning hunger. The reason the definite article becomes el is mostly a matter of how it sounds to say la agua and la hambre and the clunkiness of the "double-a" sounds repeating. It sounds more definitive to say el agua and el hambre.
There is a similar grammar rule in English about the use of the "an" versus "a." An English speaker would say, "an apple" instead of " a apple." The two repeating "double-a" sounds are too close to each other and sound too repetitive. The English rulestates that "an," which is an indefinite article modifying the noun, comes before nouns that have a vowel sound at the beginning of the word and "a" comes before consonant-starting nouns.
Feminine Words that Use the Masculine Article
Notice the substitution of el for la takes place when it comes immediately before words starting with an "a" sound.
| Feminine Nouns | English Translation |
|---|---|
| el agua | the water |
| el ama de casa | the housewife |
| el asma | asthma |
| el arca | the ark |
| el hambre | hunger |
| el hampa | the underworld |
| el arpa | the harp |
| el águila | the eagle |
If the feminine noun is modified byadjectivesthat follow the noun in the sentence, the feminine noun retains the masculine article.
| Feminine Nouns | English Translation |
|---|---|
| el agua purificada | purified water |
| el arpa paraguaya | the Paraguayan harp |
| el hambre excesiva | excessive hunger |
Reverting Back to the Feminine Article
The thing to remember is that words that are feminine remain feminine. The reason why this matters is if the word becomes plural, the word goes back to using the feminine definite article. In this case, the definite article becomes las. It sounds fine to say las arcassince the "s" in las breaks up the "double-a" sound. Another example is las amas de casa.
If a word intervenes between the definite article and the noun,lais used.
| Feminine Nouns | English Translation |
|---|---|
| la pura agua | pure water |
| la insoportable hambre | the unbearable hunger |
| la feliz ama de casa | the happy housewife |
| la gran águila | the great eagle |
If the accent of the noun is not on the first syllable, the definite article la is used with singular feminine nouns when they begin with a- or ha-.
| Feminine Nouns | English Translation |
|---|---|
| la habilidad | the skill |
| la audiencia | the audience |
| la asamblea | the meeting |
The substitution of el for la does not occur before adjectives that begin with a stressed a- or ha-, the rule only applies to nouns, despite the "double-a" sound.
| Feminine Nouns | English Translation |
|---|---|
| la alta muchacha | the tall girl |
| la agria experiencia | the bitter experience |
Exceptions to the Rule
There a few exceptions to the rule that el substitutes for la immediately before a noun that begins with a stressed a- or ha-. Note, the letters of the alphabet, calledletrasin Spanish, which is a feminine noun, are all feminine.
| Feminine Nouns | English Translation |
|---|---|
| la árabe | the Arabic woman |
| La Haya | The Hague |
| la a | the letter A |
| la hache | the letter H |
| la haz | uncommon word for face, |
Feminine Words Can Use the Masculine Indefinite Article
Most grammarians consider it correct for feminine words to take the masculine indefinite article un instead of una under the same conditions where la is changed to el. It is for the same reasonla is changed to el, to eliminate the "double-a" sound of the two words together.
| Feminine Nouns | English Translation |
|---|---|
| un águila | an eagle |
| un ama de casa | a housewife |
Although this is widely considered correct grammar, this usage is not universal. In everyday spoken language, this rule is irrelevant, due to elision, which is the omission of sounds, especially as words flow together. In pronunciation, there is no difference between un águila and una águila.
Format
mlaapachicago
Your Citation
Erichsen, Gerald. "Substituting ‘El’ for ‘La’ for Spanish Feminine Nouns." ThoughtCo, Apr. 5, 2023, thoughtco.com/substituting-el-for-la-3079094.Erichsen, Gerald. (2023, April 5). Substituting ‘El’ for ‘La’ for Spanish Feminine Nouns. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/substituting-el-for-la-3079094Erichsen, Gerald. "Substituting ‘El’ for ‘La’ for Spanish Feminine Nouns." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/substituting-el-for-la-3079094 (accessed April 9, 2024).
- Noun-Adjective Agreement in Spanish
- Indefinite Articles in Spanish
- Gender, an Inherent Characteristic of Spanish Nouns
- A Guide to Using Definite Articles in Spanish
- Spanish Words That Break the Gender Rule
- 10 Facts About Spanish Adjectives
- When to Change ‘Y’ to ‘E’ and ‘O’ to ‘U’ in Spanish
- Spanish Nouns With Two Genders
- 10 Things You Should Know About Gender in Spanish
- Neither Masculine nor Feminine: Using the Neuter Gender in Spanish
- 13 Grammatical Mistakes You Can Avoid When Speaking Spanish
- Is That Noun Masculine or Feminine?
- Spanish Nouns That Are Sometimes Masculine, Sometimes Feminine
- 35 Country and Place Names That Use the Definite Article in Spanish
- An Unusual Use for ‘Lo’ in Spanish
- 60 Nationalities in Spanish
We Care About Your Privacy
We and our 100 partners store and/or access information on a device, such as unique IDs in cookies to process personal data. You may accept or manage your choices by clicking below, including your right to object where legitimate interest is used, or at any time in the privacy policy page. These choices will be signaled to our partners and will not affect browsing data.
We and our partners process data to provide:
Store and/or access information on a device. Use limited data to select advertising. Create profiles for personalised advertising. Use profiles to select personalised advertising. Create profiles to personalise content. Use profiles to select personalised content. Measure advertising performance. Measure content performance. Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources. Develop and improve services. Use limited data to select content.
