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El águila es un ave rápida e inteligente.

El águila es un ave rápida e inteligente.
The eagle is a fast and intelligent bird.
From Lesson 184:Feminine nouns with stressed A (el, un)·Spanish (Spain)

Questions & Answers about El águila es un ave rápida e inteligente.

Why do we use el for águila and un for ave if both words are feminine?
Both águila (eagle) and ave (bird) are feminine nouns that begin with a stressed 'a' sound. To avoid the awkward clashing sound of la águila or una ave, Spanish swaps in the masculine singular articles el and un.
If ave is preceded by the masculine article un, why is the adjective rápida in the feminine form?
The rule about using el or un before a stressed 'a' only applies to the articles right next to the noun to help with pronunciation. The noun itself stays feminine! Because ave is truly a feminine word, any adjectives describing it must be feminine, which is why we use rápida instead of rápido.
Why does the sentence use e instead of y for the word 'and'?
In Spanish, the conjunction y (and) changes to e whenever the next word starts with an 'i' or 'hi' sound. Because inteligente starts with an 'i', we use e inteligente to avoid a stuttering double 'ee' sound.
Does the accent mark on águila have anything to do with the 'stressed a' rule?
Yes! The written accent tells you exactly where the verbal stress falls. Because the first syllable is accented, you know for sure that the word begins with a stressed 'a' sound. That is your immediate visual clue that you need to use el instead of la.

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