La película empieza a las ocho.

Because película is a feminine singular noun in Spanish, so it normally takes the feminine singular article la.

• el = masculine singular
• la = feminine singular

So:

• el libro = the book
• la película = the film

In Spanish, nouns usually need an article more often than in English, especially when you are talking about a specific thing.

In Spanish, every noun has a grammatical gender: masculine or feminine. Película is simply one of the nouns that is feminine, so it uses la.

There is not always a logical reason from the English point of view. It is something you learn together with the noun:

• la película
• la mesa
• la ciudad

A good habit is to learn the article and noun together, not just the noun alone.

The accent mark in película shows which syllable is stressed.

It is pronounced roughly pe-LI-cu-la, with the stress on LI.

Without the accent mark, Spanish spelling rules would suggest a different stress pattern, so the accent is necessary. Written accents in Spanish are very important because they often tell you how to pronounce a word correctly.

Empezar is the infinitive, meaning to start or to begin. In the sentence, you need the conjugated form, because the action is being done by la película.

So:

• empezar = to start
• empieza = starts / begins

Here, la película is a third-person singular subject, so the verb must be empieza.

Because empezar is a stem-changing verb. In the present tense, the e in the stem changes to ie in most forms.

So:

• yo empiezo
• tú empiezas
• él/ella empieza
• nosotros empezamos
• vosotros empezáis
• ellos empiezan

This is a very common pattern in Spanish. Other verbs do the same kind of change, for example:

• pensar → pienso
• cerrar → cierra

Spanish often leaves out subject pronouns because the verb ending already tells you the person and number.

In empieza, the form tells you it is he/she/it or you (formal singular). Since la película is already there, adding a pronoun would be unnecessary.

So Spanish prefers:

• La película empieza a las ocho.

rather than:

• La película ella empieza... ❌

In Spanish, clock times are normally introduced with a when you say that something happens at a certain time.

So:

• a las dos = at two
• a las cinco = at five
• a las ocho = at eight

This is just the standard Spanish pattern for saying at + time.

Because Spanish treats the time as if it referred to las ocho horas. Since horas is plural, you use las.

So:

• a la una = at one
• a las dos = at two
• a las ocho = at eight

The only common exception is one o’clock, which is singular:

• a la una

Spanish usually does not need a separate word for o’clock in normal sentences. Ocho by itself is enough when the context is time.

So:

• a las ocho = at eight / at eight o’clock

If you want to be more emphatic, you can say:

• a las ocho en punto = at exactly eight o’clock

But in everyday speech, a las ocho is completely normal.

Yes. In Spanish, the present tense is often used for scheduled future events, just like in English.

So La película empieza a las ocho is present tense in form, but it can refer to a future schedule:

• The film starts at eight

This is very common for timetables, transport, classes, events, and appointments.

Yes. Comenzar and empezar both mean to begin / to start.

So both are correct:

• La película empieza a las ocho
• La película comienza a las ocho

In many contexts, they mean almost the same thing. Empezar is often felt to be a little more common in everyday speech, but both are perfectly natural.

The h in Spanish is silent, so ocho is pronounced roughly O-cho, not otch-ho.

A rough guide for an English speaker:

• o like the o in told, but shorter and cleaner
• ch like ch in church

So the h is written, but you do not pronounce it.

A rough pronunciation would be:

la pe-LI-ku-la em-PIE-tha a laz O-cho

A few notes for Spain Spanish:

• película stresses LI
• empieza stresses PIE
• In much of Spain, z is pronounced like the th in think, so empieza sounds like em-pie-tha
• a las ocho often links together smoothly in speech

If you use a Latin American s sound instead of the Spain th sound, people will still understand you perfectly.