Hacha

[DailyWord]

This is a discussion thread for the Daily Spanish Word for January 10, 2010

hacha (feminine noun (uses el in the singular, las in the plural)) — axe, hatchet. Look up hacha in the dictionary

¿Crees que puedes talar ese árbol con el hacha?
Do you think you can fell that tree with an axe?

[powerchisper]

Hacha can also be used in a different way.

Ser un hacha ( o estar hecho un hacha ) en algo : to be an ace doing something

[chileno]

Originally Posted by DailyWord

This is a discussion thread for the Daily Spanish Word for January 10, 2010

hacha (feminine noun (uses el in the singular, las in the plural)) — axe, hatchet. Look up hacha in the dictionary

¿Crees que puedes talar ese árbol con el hacha? Do youthink you can fell that tree with the axe?
Do you think you can fell that tree with an axe?- Crees que puedes talar ese árbol con un hacha?

Y councuerdo con powerchisper.

[Luna Azul]

"Hacha" is also a "torch" (not a flashlight) and a big candle.

[jrandlib]

Hacha
This is a discussion thread for the Daily Spanish Word for January 10, 2010

hacha (feminine noun (uses el in the singular, las in the plural)) — axe, hatchet. Look up hacha in the dictionary

New guy learns again!
So now a feminine noun uses el?

Using the Tomisimo dictionary for hacha there is only one translation showing "el" and that is for chopper.
Would that be the only version that uses el?
Are there other spanish words that use the rule?

thanks
jrandlib

[aleCcowaN]

Short answer: any feminine noun that starts with tonic "a" sound uses "el" as its preceding definite article. That may be extended to indefinite article "una".

There are a lot of web resources on that. You may start here.

[Luna Azul]

Yes, there are other words. These are the ones I remember:

el arpa
el agua
el hampa
el ama
el arca
el hambre
el águila
el asma

Edit: Not all feminine words that start with "a" or "ha" use "el.

La árabe (the Arab woman)
La hache (the consonant 'h')
La a (the vowel 'a')

And I'm sure there are others.

[caliber1]

Thanks for that! That makes sense like "el mapa". Great!

[aleCcowaN]

Originally Posted by caliber1

Thanks for that! That makes sense like "el mapa". Great!

But mapa is masculine and hacha is feminine. We know the gender of a noun through the gender of the adjective that modifies it:

el hacha filosa --> esa hacha filosa
el mapa completo --> ese mapa completo

[Luna Azul]

Originally Posted by caliber1

Thanks for that! That makes sense like "el mapa". Great!

That's a different case. Words that end in "a" but are masculine..

El programa
El dilema