La selva es húmeda.

La is the feminine singular definite article, meaning the.

In La selva es húmeda, la is used because selva is a singular feminine noun. Spanish usually uses articles more regularly than English, so the jungle becomes la selva.

In Spanish, every noun has a grammatical gender, usually masculine or feminine. Selva is a feminine noun, so it takes feminine words with it:

• la selva
• una selva
• selva húmeda

A noun being feminine does not mean the thing itself is biologically female. It is just a grammatical category.

Also, many nouns ending in -a are feminine, and selva follows that common pattern.

Es comes from ser, and está comes from estar. Both can mean is, but they are used differently.

Here, es húmeda describes a general or characteristic quality of the jungle, so ser is the normal choice.

• La selva es húmeda = The jungle is humid/moist by nature or in general.

If you said La selva está húmeda, it would suggest a more temporary condition:

• La selva está húmeda = The jungle is wet/damp right now.

So es is the expected choice for a general fact.

Because adjectives in Spanish usually agree with the noun they describe in gender and number.

Since selva is feminine singular, the adjective must also be feminine singular:

• masculine singular: húmedo
• feminine singular: húmeda
• masculine plural: húmedos
• feminine plural: húmedas

So:

• el bosque es húmedo
• la selva es húmeda

The structure is:

• La selva = subject
• es = verb
• húmeda = adjective describing the subject

So it follows the very common pattern:

subject + form of ser + adjective

Examples:

• El clima es cálido.
• La casa es grande.
• La selva es húmeda.

This is very similar to English word order in sentences like The jungle is humid.

The accent mark in húmeda shows where the stress goes: HÚ-me-da.

Without the written accent, Spanish stress rules would make it sound different. The accent helps show the correct pronunciation.

Also, the h is silent in Spanish, so húmeda begins with a vowel sound.

A simple English-friendly approximation is:

lah SEL-vah ess OO-meh-thah (in much of Spain)

A few useful pronunciation points:

• h in húmeda is silent
• u sounds like oo
• e is a short pure eh
• in Spain, the d between vowels in húmeda is often softer, a bit like the th in this

A more careful pronunciation would be roughly:

la SEL-va es OO-me-da

with the stress on SEL and HÚ.

Normally, no. In standard Spanish, you would usually say La selva es húmeda.

Leaving out the article here sounds unnatural. Spanish often requires the definite article where English may or may not use it.

So for a general statement, La selva es húmeda is the normal form.

Often yes, but not always perfectly. Selva usually refers to a dense, lush, tropical forest, so jungle or rainforest can both fit depending on context.

It is different from bosque, which is the more general word for forest or woods.

So:

• selva = jungle / tropical rainforest
• bosque = forest / woods

Yes, it is possible, but it changes the style.

• La selva húmeda or La selva es húmeda is more neutral and straightforward.
• La húmeda selva sounds more literary, descriptive, or poetic.

In your sentence, húmeda comes after es because it is part of the predicate: is humid.

Yes, but it means something slightly different.

• La selva es húmeda = The jungle is humid by nature / generally humid.
• La selva está húmeda = The jungle is wet or damp at the moment.

So both are grammatically correct, but es and está do not mean exactly the same thing.

No. Es is the third person singular form of ser, so it can mean:

• he is
• she is
• it is
• you are (formal singular: usted)

In this sentence, it means it is, because la selva is the subject:

• La selva es húmeda. = The jungle is humid.

The plural would be:

Las selvas son húmedas.

Changes:

• la → las
• selva → selvas
• es → son
• húmeda → húmedas

Everything has to match in number.

Usually yes, in this sentence. Húmedo/a can mean humid, moist, or damp, depending on context.

With selva, humid is the most natural English choice:

• La selva es húmeda. = The jungle is humid.

If you were talking about clothes, soil, or a towel, moist or damp might be more natural.