El agua está fría.

to be

Breakdown of El agua está fría.

• el agua: the water
• frío: cold

Questions & Answers about El agua está fría.

Why is it el agua even though agua is a feminine noun?

In Spanish, certain feminine nouns that start with a stressed a sound take the masculine article el to avoid a repetitive vowel sound (e.g., la agua would sound awkward). Despite using el, agua is still feminine, so adjectives that modify it must agree in the feminine form (as shown by fría).

Why do we use está instead of es for describing the water?

Generally, está refers to a temporary or changeable state, like temperature at a specific moment—how the water feels right now. If someone said es fría, that would suggest the water is inherently, or always, cold by nature (such as water in a specific region being known for its consistently low temperature). Think of está as describing a temporary condition and es as describing a more permanent characteristic.

Why is the adjective fría feminine when we used the masculine article el?

Even though we say el agua, the word agua itself is feminine. That means all adjectives that describe agua must reflect a feminine agreement. So we say está fría (with a feminine -a ending) instead of frío.

How would we make this sentence plural?

In the plural form, you use las aguas and keep the adjective in the feminine plural form: Las aguas están frías. The change to las happens because the plural nouns and articles don’t require the same rule about avoiding consecutive vowel sounds.

Is the phrase El agua está fría used the same way across Latin America?

Yes, this structure is standard across Spanish-speaking countries. While there may be some regional vocabulary differences, the rule about using el with singular feminine nouns that begin with a stressed a is consistent everywhere in the Spanish-speaking world.