Question about masc agua using fem. for mucha agua

Nicole P.B1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Question about masc agua using fem. for mucha agua

I was just reading over the questions, and wondered about this one:

"with some adjectives like mucho/mucha, hambre would take the feminine form (mucha hambre). It works the same way as the word "agua": (el agua caliente, but mucha agua caliente)"

Is there a rule and  lesson that covers this? It certainly is a curious phenomena.

Nicole

Asked 5 years ago
Alan G.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

Actually agua and hambre are feminine, but they often take masculine articles for pronunciation reasons, as explained in this lesson:

Spanish feminine nouns starting with a stressed "a" sometimes use masculine articles and quantifiers

Nicole P.B1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Hello Alan,

Thank you so much.  I'm impressed with the rapidity of your reply. 

I studied the lesson you referred me to. It is quite interesting how there is still the "double a" in "mucha hambre" which is being avoided in: "el hambre- un hambre".  Is there some rule here that I am missing?  Or does it have to do with the length of the term used  i.e.: "mucha", which would not detract from stressing the "a" in "hambre".  Hope this makes sense.  Thanks again. 

Alan G.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor

It's only a problem when both "a" sounds are stressed. In mucha the stress is on the first syllable.

Question about masc agua using fem. for mucha agua

I was just reading over the questions, and wondered about this one:

"with some adjectives like mucho/mucha, hambre would take the feminine form (mucha hambre). It works the same way as the word "agua": (el agua caliente, but mucha agua caliente)"

Is there a rule and  lesson that covers this? It certainly is a curious phenomena.

Nicole

Sign in to submit your answer

Don't have an account yet? Join today

Ask a question

Find your Spanish level for FREE

Test your Spanish to the CEFR standard

Find your Spanish level
Clever stuff happening!