Is Agua Masculine or Feminine?

Let's talk about gender. If you have been studying Spanish, you probably know that nouns in Spanish have a gender. For example, the word libro (book) is a masculine noun. On the contrary, the noun pelota (ball) is feminine. If you want to use those nouns with their corresponding definite articles, you will say el libro (the book) and la pelota (the ball). Now, what about the noun agua (water)? Is agua masculine or feminine? Do you say el agua or la agua?

Let's take a look at some clips:

Cuando uno tiene sed

When one is thirsty

Pero el agua no está cerca

But the water's not close by

Captions 17-18, Jarabe de Palo - Agua
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Y como para completar la historia, desperdiciaban el agua todo el tiempo.

And, as if to make matters worse, they wasted water all the time.

Caption 15, Salvando el planeta Palabra - Llegada
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Y apenas sus pies tocaron el agua,

And as soon as their feet touched the water,

se convirtieron en dos grandes serpientes.

they turned into two big snakes.

Captions 51-52, Aprendiendo con Carlos - América precolombina - El mito de Bachué
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Can you now answer our question? According to the above clips, is agua masculine or feminine? In all the previous clips, the word agua is placed right after the masculine definite article "el" so the noun agua must be masculine, right? Not so fast! Let's take a look at the following clips:

Limonadas, refrescos o simplemente agua fresca.

Lemonades, sodas or just cold water.

Caption 42, Aprendiendo con Karen - Utensilios de cocina
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Las formas de presentación incluyen el agua ozonizada y el aceite ozonizado.

The formulations include ozonized water and ozonized oil.

Caption 35, Los médicos explican - Beneficios del ozono
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Un día, los vientos del páramo agitaron las aguas de la laguna.

One day, the winds from the tundra shook up the waters of the lake.

Caption 26, Aprendiendo con Carlos - América precolombina - El mito de Bachué
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Did you see that? If you look at the first two clips, you can see that the adjectives that go after the noun agua are feminine adjectives that end with the vowel "a" (fresca and ionizada). Also, in the third clip, you can see that the term aguas (plural form of agua) is preceded by the feminine definite article "las". So, is agua masculine or feminine?

The answer is very simple: the noun agua is always feminine. However, if you are wondering why we say "el agua" and not "la agua" there is a simple rule you need to keep in mind: If a feminine noun starts with a stressed "a", you need to use the masculine definite article "el". Let's see more feminine nouns that start with a stressed "a":

el águila (the eagle)

el alma (the soul)

Nevertheless, it is important to say that for plural feminine nouns, you need to use the plural feminine definitive article "las":

las aguas (the waters)

las águilas (the eagles)

las almas (the souls)

Finally, keep in mind that if the noun is feminine the adjective needs to be feminine too. For example, let's say that we want to say "the water is dirty." Since water is feminine in Spanish, you need to use the feminine version of the adjective (sucia):