El álbum fotográfico contiene el negativo.

Because álbum is a masculine noun in Spanish, so it takes el.

A good rule is that nouns ending in a consonant do not automatically follow the common -o = masculine / -a = feminine pattern, so you usually have to learn their gender with the word:

• el álbum
• el hotel
• la imagen
• la canción

So the correct phrase is el álbum fotográfico.

Álbum has a written accent because of Spanish stress rules.

Spanish normally stresses:

• the last syllable if a word ends in a consonant other than n or s
• the second-to-last syllable if it ends in a vowel, n, or s

Since album ends in m, without an accent it would naturally be stressed on the last syllable. But the real stress is on the first syllable: ÁL-bum. The accent mark shows that.

In Spanish, most descriptive adjectives usually come after the noun.

So:

• álbum fotográfico = photographic album / photo album

This is the normal order in Spanish:

• casa grande
• libro interesante
• cámara digital

Putting the adjective before the noun is sometimes possible in Spanish, but it often sounds literary, emphatic, or changes the nuance. Here, álbum fotográfico is the standard phrasing.

It means photo album or photographic album.

Literally:

• álbum = album
• fotográfico = photographic

In natural English, photo album is usually the best translation, even though Spanish uses the fuller phrase álbum fotográfico.

Because contiene is the conjugated form of the verb, while contener is the infinitive.

The subject is el álbum fotográfico, which is third person singular, so the verb must match it:

• contener = to contain
• contiene = it contains

A few forms:

• yo contengo = I contain
• tú contienes = you contain
• él/ella contiene = he/she/it contains

So El álbum fotográfico contiene el negativo means The photo album contains the negative.

It comes from contener, which is related to tener and follows a similar pattern, so it is not fully regular.

For example:

• tener → tiene
• contener → contiene

This is a stem-changing pattern where e changes to ie in many present-tense forms:

• contengo
• contienes
• contiene
• contenemos
• contenéis
• contienen

So yes, contiene may look surprising if you expect contener to behave like a completely regular -er verb.

It is the present simple (also called the present indicative).

Here it means:

• contains
• sometimes, depending on context, English might also say does contain

In this sentence, the most natural translation is simply contains.

Because negativo is being used here as a specific singular noun: the negative.

So:

• el negativo = the negative

Spanish often uses articles in places where English might also use one, and here both languages line up nicely:

• the negative
• el negativo

Here, negativo is a noun, not an adjective.

It means a photographic negative.

Spanish often uses the same word as both an adjective and a noun:

• una respuesta negativa = a negative answer (adjective)
• el negativo = the negative (noun)

In this sentence, the article el shows clearly that it is being used as a noun.

Not normally if you mean a film negative.

The standard word is:

• el negativo

If you said la fotografía negativa, it would sound like the negative photograph or a photograph with some negative quality, not the physical photographic negative.

So for the object used in traditional photography, el negativo is the correct word.

Yes, but the original order is the most neutral and natural:

• El álbum fotográfico contiene el negativo.

This is a standard subject + verb + object sentence.

Other orders are possible in special contexts, but they may sound marked or emphasize something:

• El negativo lo contiene el álbum fotográfico. → very emphatic/unnatural in most normal situations
• En el álbum fotográfico está el negativo. → changes the structure and focuses more on location

For a learner, the original sentence is the best model.

A careful Spain pronunciation would be roughly:

el ÁL-bum fo-to-GRÁ-fi-co con-TYE-ne el ne-ga-TI-vo

A few useful points:

• á in álbum shows the stress: ÁL-bum
• fotográfico is stressed on GRÁ
• contiene has tie pronounced like tye
• c in contiene is a hard k sound because it comes before o
• g in negativo is a hard g because it comes before a

The most direct translation is contains.

However, depending on context, English might sometimes prefer includes or has inside. Still, contains is the best literal match here.

So:

• El álbum fotográfico contiene el negativo. = The photo album contains the negative.

Yes, it is grammatically correct and natural, though it sounds a bit formal or descriptive.

In everyday speech, a person might also say:

• El negativo está en el álbum. = The negative is in the album.
• El álbum tiene el negativo. = The album has the negative.

But contiene is perfectly good Spanish and may sound slightly more precise or formal than tiene.