un área determinada

Hola Annie G.

Even though “área” is a feminine noun, we say “un área” (not “una área”) because of how the word sounds. In Spanish, when a feminine noun starts with a stressed "a" sound (like área, águila, arma), the article changes to masculine in the singular — so we use “el” or “un” instead of “la” or “una”.

This isn’t because the noun becomes masculine — it’s just to avoid the awkward repetition of the "a" sound in “la área” or “una área”, which would be difficult to pronounce smoothly. So we say things like “el área grande” or “un área determinada”, but the noun is still feminine and the adjective remains in feminine form: grande, determinada, etc.

In the plural, this issue disappears because “las” and “unas” don’t create the same awkward sound. So we say: “las áreas importantes” or “unas áreas tranquilas.”

Hope this clears it up! Let me know if you’d like more examples or a trick to remember it.

Feliz finde

Silvia