El médico explicó la operación.

to explain

Breakdown of El médico explicó la operación.

• el médico: the doctor
• la operación: the operation

Questions & Answers about El médico explicó la operación.

Why does the sentence use el before médico?

Because médico is a singular masculine noun, so it takes the masculine singular definite article el.

In this sentence, el médico means the doctor. Spanish usually uses articles very regularly, often more than English does.

Why does it say la operación and not just operación?

Because operación is being used as a specific noun: the operation. In Spanish, it is very normal to include the definite article with a specific thing.

Also, operación is a feminine singular noun, so it takes la.

How do I know that operación is feminine?

A very common pattern in Spanish is that nouns ending in -ción are feminine.

So:

• la operación
• la explicación
• la información

That pattern is very reliable and useful to remember.

What tense is explicó?