El cartel prohíbe aparcar.

Because the stress falls on the í: pro-hí-be.

In Spanish, when a weak vowel like i or u needs to be pronounced separately from a nearby strong vowel, it often takes an accent mark. In prohíbe, the accent shows that the i is stressed and forms its own syllable.

This verb comes from prohibir. Its present-tense forms are:

• yo prohíbo
• tú prohíbes
• él/ella prohíbe
• nosotros prohibimos
• vosotros prohibís
• ellos prohíben

Notice that the accent appears in most forms, but not in nosotros.

Because after prohibir, Spanish often uses an infinitive to talk about a forbidden action in general.

So:

• prohibir + infinitive = to forbid doing something

Examples:

• Prohíbe fumar = It forbids smoking
• Prohíbe entrar = It forbids entering
• Prohíbe aparcar = It forbids parking

This is similar to English forbid + -ing or forbid someone to do something, depending on the sentence.

Because Spanish does not need a separate word like English to before the infinitive in this structure.

The infinitive itself already carries that basic to + verb idea:

• aparcar = to park
• fumar = to smoke
• entrar = to enter

So prohíbe aparcar literally matches forbids parking / forbids to park, though natural English would usually be forbids parking or simply No parking.

In Spain, aparcar is the everyday verb most people use for parking a car.

So in Spain:

• aparcar = the normal everyday choice
• estacionar = understood, but often sounds more formal or is more common in Latin America

A learner focusing on Spanish from Spain should definitely know aparcar well.

Not usually as the exact text on the sign.

El cartel prohíbe aparcar means The sign forbids parking. That is a sentence about the sign.

On the sign itself, Spanish would more naturally say something like:

• Prohibido aparcar
• Se prohíbe aparcar
• Prohibido estacionar (more common outside Spain or in more formal contexts)

So this sentence is natural when describing what the sign means, not necessarily when quoting the exact wording printed on it.

Here cartel means sign or notice.

The word cartel can also mean poster, depending on context. So its meaning is broader than one single English word.

In this sentence, because it is followed by prohíbe aparcar, the context makes it clear that it means a sign or notice telling people not to park.

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

• el cartel
• un cartel

Like many nouns in Spanish, grammatical gender has to be learned with the word. There is no special reason visible from this sentence alone; it is simply the correct gender of the noun.

The subject is el cartel.

So literally, the sentence says:

• The sign forbids parking

Spanish often allows things like signs, rules, laws, or notices to be the subject of verbs such as prohibir, just as English does.

Grammatically:

• El cartel = subject
• prohíbe = verb
• aparcar = infinitive complement

A simple pronunciation guide is:

el kar-TEL pro-EE-be a-par-KAR

A bit more closely:

• El = short el
• cartel = kar-TEL
• prohíbe = pro-EE-be
• aparcar = a-par-KAR

A few useful points for Spain:

• r in aparcar is a tapped r
• c before a in cartel and aparcar sounds like k
• the stress is on:
  • -tel in cartel
  • hí in prohíbe
  • -car in aparcar

Yes. Both are correct, but they are slightly different in style.

• El cartel prohíbe aparcar = The sign forbids parking
  
  • This talks about what the sign does.
• Se prohíbe aparcar = Parking is forbidden / It is forbidden to park
  
  • Very common in formal notices.
• Está prohibido aparcar = Parking is prohibited
  
  • Also very common on signs.

In real-life public notices, Se prohíbe aparcar and Está prohibido aparcar are often more typical than El cartel prohíbe aparcar.

Yes.

Like English park, aparcar can be used:

• intransitively: No puedes aparcar aquí = You can’t park here
• transitively: Voy a aparcar el coche = I’m going to park the car

In El cartel prohíbe aparcar, it is being used in a general sense: the forbidden action is parking, without naming the vehicle directly.