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"The water is deep" = "El agua es profunda" - this reminds me of the old joke (from the 1930's) when one person says, "Well......" and a second person says, "That's a deep subject". The fact that profunda has a second meaning of profound fits right in with the joke.
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Because "agua" is feminine. In its singular state (agua), it uses "el" because "la" would be kind of awkward (it would get all mushed together). In the plural, though, it becomes "las aguas," and it's "agua fría," "agua profunda," "agua clara," etc.
Long story short: "agua" is a feminine noun with a masculine article in the singular form.
As is the case for any word that starts with a stressed a or ha, it's just because it would make it even harder to understand if it were pronounced "la agua''--it would sound like ''lagua"'
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Feminine article because the stress isn't on the first syllable. But it's "el alma" because the stress is on the first.
thank you! i agree. Can't believe I didn't realize I was saying el agua. I had not even thought about it!
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That happens in English. Look up Genesis 1:2 — "Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters."
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I simply thought it was a good, well-known literary example of "water" being used in the plural in English.
You are correct. In the RVR it says "el Espíritu de Dios se mova sobre la faz de las aguas"
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To add, almost all nouns (I can't think of any that don't) that begin with "a" and end in "a" with the stress on the the first "a" follow the same principle. For example you would say "el águila" and "las águilas" whereas it is "la avena" because the stress is on the "e".
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Be very sure that you put 'deep' first whatever your natural inclination.
Yes, for me "clear and deep" sounds more natural in English. But I re-thought it before submitting the answer and changed it to the order they put it in Spanish. DL should accept it both ways. (I couldn't report it, but maybe other people can if they got it "wrong".)
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I find it weird and interesting that our strong natural inclination is to put 'clear and deep' rather than 'deep and clear' but can't think of any real reason why this would be.
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There is a definite order for all adjectives in English. I don't happen to know the details of the rule, but I just know there is one. Think of the big green ball. You would never say the green big ball
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There is a potential difference in meaning. The first suggests a single 'big green ball', but the second implies, it seems to me, a set of 'big balls', one of which is 'green.
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It seems to be an irreversible binomial. Whether it is or not shouldn't really matter. "The water is clear and deep." means the same thing as "The water is deep and clear." It should ask for a literal translation, if that's what it wants.
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I don't know what's wrong with me, but I appear to be the only one who has the natural inclination to say "deep and clear."
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Is there another word for deep when meaning physically deep or is it always "profunda"?
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Is profunda also used to mean something is philosophically deep, or is that just an English thing?
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They use "el agua" when on the question right before this, I was counted wrong for saying that. It told me agua was feminine and should be "la agua is pura".
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When to use el with feminine nouns
El is often used for masculine nouns and la for feminine ones. But when the noun begins with a stressed a- or ha-, you must use el regardless of the gender.
Source: Duolingo itself (a box popped up)
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Como el puerto de Mahón, Menorca. Es el puerto más grande de Europe.
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Weirdly the computer heard the words as the voice said it and entered it and got itself right!!
"The water is deep and clear" is "el agua profunda y clara". El can be a bit confusing sometimes because it also means "he". A way to remeber which one is which is if it is talking about something that would make more sense for a non human it will mean "it". If it is a person it means "he" Hope I helped with a bit of confusion!
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I read somewhere that "el agua" is false masculine. Hence the adjective "clara" rather than "claro". Yes?
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No. "Agua" is feminine. Just for euphonic reasons we use the article "el", because it's a noun that begins with a stressed "a".
The water is clear and deep. Is more logical since one may not know how deep the water is if it is not clear...
The waters. Is used a lot in English as in "The waters of the Nile"
