Exceptional Spanish nouns

El abrelatas abre latas

There are special nouns in the Spanish vocabulary, that can produce some confusion. In this lesson we are going to explore two groups of these nouns.

Short nouns starting with a-

el ave – las aves

There is a list of nouns that end in -a, and their gender is undoubtedly feminine, but they require a masculine article.

el agua – the water

el ave – the bird

el alma – the soul

el aula – the classroom

These nouns have two common features – they are relatively short, and they begin with a.

It’s not a gender exception, as el sofá or el día. The gender remains as it should be. This is more like an article exception.

The tricky part is that this happens only when a noun is in singular form.

el ave, un ave

But: las aves, unas aves

el agua, un agua

But: las aguas

el aula, un aula

But: las aulas, unas aulas

The rest of the elements, that can be related to nouns, such as pronouns and adjectives, don’t change.

muchas aves

esta agua

nuestra aula

To be precise, the exception is only true for the articles la and una, but for the undetermined and negative pronouns both options are possible:

alguna aula = algún aula – any classroom

ninguna ave = ningún ave – no bird

The reason is that, these pronouns are derived from the articles un, una, but there is no strict agreement on how to treat them with this type of words.

Maybe at some point in history, the right spelling una ave and la agua, started to sound redundant and ugly, and it turned out to be un ave and el agua.

El agua está fría — The water is cold

El aula es pequeña — The classroom is small

Have a look at more nouns of the kind:

un águila — an eagle

un hacha — an axe

un asa — a handle

un arma – a weapon

el hambre – the hunger

el área – the area

un hada – a fairy

El asa de la sartén está quemada – The frying pan handle is burnt

El arma blanca — The cold weapon

La búsqueda se produce por toda el área – The search is being performed throughout the whole area

El hada convierte la calabaza en una carroza – The fairy turns the pumpkin into a carriage

Try it yourself:

The white eagle flys above the mountains

I have a new axe

The handle is too small

The handles are too small

This tree is the soul of the tribe

There are many weapons in the world

The weapon is destroyed

This weapon is destroyed

I feel the hunger

I feel much hunger

Not all short words that start with a are exceptional. The list presented above is almost complete.

Compound nouns

un paraguas, un lavavajillas

There is one more special type of words in Spanish. These are compound nouns. They consist of two parts. The first part is usually derived from a verb. The second one is produced from a noun, and end in -s.

un paraguas – an umbrella

parar – to stop

agua – water

un abrelatas – a can opener

abrir – to open

una lata – a can

un sacacorchos – a corkscrew

sacar – to remove, to take out

un corcho – a cork

Despite the fact that these nouns end in os or as, it’s by default a singular masculine form.

Don’t say: una abrelatas or las abrelatas

In plural these words don’t change.

el abrelatas – los abrelatas

Try it yourself:

Where is the can opener?

Where are the can openers?

Our umbrella is broken

Here you have more of these words:

el cumpleaños – the birthday

un abrebotellas – a bottle opener

un cortaúñas – a nail clipper

un lavavajillas – a dishwasher

un microondas – a microwave oven

un rascacielos – a skyscraper

un rompecabezas – a brain teaser, a puzzle

un chaleco salvavidas – a life vest

el parabrisas – the windshield

el limpiaparabrisas – the windshield wiper

Mi cumpleaños es siempre divertido — My birthday is always fun

Aquel rascacielos es muy alto – That skyscraper is very high

¿Puedes encender el lavavajillas? – Could you turn on the dishwasher?

Try it yourself:

This puzzle is very hard

Daniel has the corkscrew and the bottle opener

This skyscraper is old

These skyscrapers are old

When is your birthday?

The windshield is broken