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Why is it ok to use el with a feminine noun?

 

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  #11  
Old September 10, 2010, 11:10 AM
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Originally Posted by irmamar View Post
Some help?
There are many more... As was said, many is used for items that are countable.

Feel good for using "than" though. On forums and in blog comments it seems like more than half of people use "then" incorrectly.

For example: "That game is way better then this way" --- BAD!
Correct: "That game is way better than this way." - GOOD

Sorry. That is my English language pet peeve. Grrrr. But good job irmamar for using "than" correctly. Better than most Americans.

Last edited by Awaken; September 10, 2010 at 11:13 AM. Reason: Added 2nd part.
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  #12  
Old September 10, 2010, 11:15 AM
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Originally Posted by Feliz View Post
I am learning to trust my instincts and Spanish Grammar at the same time! When I came across: "All compound nouns require a masculine definite or indefinite article." in a lesson plan recently, I doubted the "all" part--because of my age and experience, probably. I only dared to use that rule in this thread because I had not come across any compound nouns that required feminine articles yet. What you say seems true about there being more masculine compound nouns than feminine ones--now that I know they even exist. I will study more closely what you have written and I thank you for including examples of compound nouns that require feminine articles. Gracias por la corrección.


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Originally Posted by Perikles View Post
Please rewrite correctly and copy 100 times.
Cute remark--and icons.



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Originally Posted by aleCcowaN View Post
el ave maría, el avemaría, la avemaría

la aguamarina

el ave / las aves
un ave / unas aves
algún ave
ningún ave
esta ave / estas aves
esa ave / esas aves
aquella ave / aquellas aves
toda ave
toda el ave
toda un ave
What can I say at this point except that Spanish Grammar must be very forgiving and accommodating. I will store what you have written and see how it plays out in the future. Gracias por tu colaboración.
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  #13  
Old September 10, 2010, 11:16 AM
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Originally Posted by Rusty View Post
This is akin to why we have two pronunciations for the word 'the' in English. If the following word begins with a vowel sound, we pronounce it as if it were written 'thee'. Likewise, the English word 'a' becomes 'an' if the following word begins with a vowel sound. In Spanish, the rule is 'if the immediately following feminine word begins with a stressed 'a' sound, the singular definite article 'el' and the singular indefinite article 'un' are used. The feminine plural articles are used, however.

el/un agua
las/unas aguas
el/un águila
las/unas águilas
el/un hacha
las/unas hachas

An extension of the rule states that compound words that begin with any of the words that fall under this category are also treated the same way, even though the 'a' sound is not stressed.

el/un avemaría
el/un aguamarina

There are words that are excluded from the rule - all proper names, names that denote a female person or animal, and letters of the alphabet.

la a
la hache
la Ana
La Haya
la árabe (a female Arab, as opposed to el árabe (a male Arab))
la ánade
Thank you so much for this! I just learned something new. Woohoo! I much prefer rules over just trying to memorize each set! I'm officially smarter now.
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  #14  
Old September 13, 2010, 02:26 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Awaken View Post
There are many more... As was said, many is used for items that are countable.

Feel good for using "than" though. On forums and in blog comments it seems like more than half of people use "then" incorrectly.

For example: "That game is way better then this way" --- BAD!
Correct: "That game is way better than this way." - GOOD

Sorry. That is my English language pet peeve. Grrrr. But good job irmamar for using "than" correctly. Better than most Americans.
Thanks! I wasn't able to see it! 1000 times! (como en español es "mucho", pues sale el "much" él solito ).

I can confound "than" with "that" because both mean "que" in Spanish, but I think that if I wrote "then" instead of "than" it would be a typo.

But thanks for your advice.
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  #15  
Old September 13, 2010, 02:33 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by irmamar View Post
I can confound "than" with "that"
... confuse ...
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  #16  
Old September 13, 2010, 02:35 AM
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Originally Posted by Perikles View Post
... confuse ...
Thanks.
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  #17  
Old September 13, 2010, 02:40 AM
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Thanks.
de nada. ¿Recibiste mi mensaje? (PM - MP? )
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  #18  
Old September 13, 2010, 02:44 AM
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Originally Posted by Perikles View Post
de nada. ¿Recibiste mi mensaje? (PM - MP? )
Sí. PM: Private Message. MP: Mensaje Privado.
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