Palabra Lexi · common words in Spanish
How to say "water" in Spanish
"Water" in Spanish is agua, pronounced AH-gwah (stress on the syllable in capitals). It is a feminine noun (el agua, plural las aguas).
| Spanish | agua |
|---|---|
| Pronunciation | AH-gwah |
| Meaning | water |
| Gender | feminine: el agua (el, not la, before a stressed a-) |
| Plural | las aguas |
| Frequency | #1 in the Palabra list of common Spanish words |
Pronunciation is spelled out in English, one syllable at a time, with the stressed syllable in capitals. The speaker button uses your browser's built-in Spanish voice. Gender and plural: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.
How to pronounce agua
Agua is pronounced AH-gwah, in IPA /ˈaɡwa/. Agua has two syllables, AH-gwah, with the stress on the first. There is no written accent because the word follows the basic rule: words ending in a vowel, -n or -s are stressed on the second-to-last syllable.
Listen: normal and slow speed, in your browser's Spanish voice. IPA: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.
Is agua masculine or feminine?
Agua is feminine, but because it starts with a stressed "a" sound it takes el, not la, in the singular: el agua. Adjectives that describe it stay feminine. In the plural it is las again: las aguas. That fits the usual pattern: most nouns ending in -a are feminine.
Example sentences
Un vaso de agua
a glass of water
Necesito agua fría
I need cold water
"Water" in Spain and Latin America
It is agua, not "aqua" (that is Latin and Italian). The g is soft, so in fast speech agua can sound close to "AH-wah", but it is still there.
Useful phrases
- Un vaso de agua, por favor.
A glass of water, please. - agua con gas / agua sin gas
sparkling / still water - agua del grifo (Spain), agua de la llave (Mexico)
tap water
Regional words and roots: Diccionario de la lengua española (RAE). Spanish varies by region, so treat these as the most common patterns, not strict rules.
How to remember agua
agua [AH-gwah] sounds like the English “aqua”. Picture this:
An aqua-colored fountain sprays water so high it rains back down on the whole square.
A sound-alike plus a vivid scene is the keyword method, a well-studied way to learn vocabulary. How it works.
Practice agua
Two quick games, right here: no sign-up, nothing is sent anywhere.