La baja médica termina hoy.

In Spain, la baja médica usually means sick leave or medical leave: a period when a doctor has officially signed you off work because you are ill or injured.

A few useful notes:

• baja on its own can mean several things in Spanish, such as drop, cancellation, removal, or leave/status off work
• In this expression, baja médica is a fixed, very common phrase
• In everyday Spanish in Spain, people often simply say la baja when the context is clear

So La baja médica termina hoy means that the official period of medical leave ends today.

Spanish normally uses the definite article more often than English does.

So:

• la baja médica = the sick leave / the medical leave

In this sentence, it refers to a specific medical leave that both speaker and listener already know about. That is why la sounds natural.

Without the article, baja médica would usually sound more like a label or dictionary form rather than a complete, natural subject in this sentence.

Because médica agrees with baja, which is a feminine noun.

• la baja → feminine
• therefore the adjective must also be feminine: médica

This is standard adjective agreement in Spanish:

• permiso médico = medical leave/permission for a masculine noun
• baja médica = medical leave for a feminine noun

Even though English does not change medical, Spanish adjectives usually change to match gender and number.

Because in Spanish, adjectives often come after the noun.

So:

• baja médica not
• médica baja

This noun + adjective order is very common, especially when the adjective is classifying the noun rather than adding emotion or emphasis.

Here médica tells you what kind of baja it is: a medical one.

termina is the third-person singular present tense of terminar.

It matches the subject:

• La baja médica = singular
• so the verb is termina

This present tense is often used to talk about scheduled or definite events, much like English can say:

• The leave ends today
• The course finishes tomorrow

So termina hoy is perfectly natural.

Because Spanish usually does not need subject pronouns when the subject is already clear.

Here the subject is explicitly stated:

• La baja médica = the subject

So adding a pronoun would be unnecessary:

• La baja médica termina hoy = natural
• Ella termina hoy would mean It/She ends today, but ella would sound odd here unless you were replacing la baja médica after mentioning it already, and even then Spanish often still avoids the pronoun

Spanish is a language where subject pronouns are often omitted unless they are needed for contrast or emphasis.

Yes. Acabar can also mean to end or to finish, so:

• La baja médica termina hoy
• La baja médica acaba hoy

Both are possible.

That said, terminar often sounds a bit more neutral and straightforward in this kind of context. Acabar is also common, but depending on tone and region, it can feel slightly more conversational.

In Spain, both would be understood easily.

Yes. Hoy is flexible.

The most neutral order here is:

• La baja médica termina hoy.

But you could also hear:

• Hoy termina la baja médica.
• La baja médica hoy termina. ← possible, but less natural in everyday speech

The final position is very common because it places the time expression neatly at the end, like English often does.

Because termina hoy is the normal way to say that something ends today as a fact or scheduled event.

Está terminando hoy is grammatically possible, but it suggests more of an action in progress, as if you were focusing on the process of ending right now. That usually sounds less natural here.

Compare:

• La baja médica termina hoy. = The sick leave ends today.
• La baja médica está terminando hoy. = The sick leave is ending today.
  This is possible, but much less likely in ordinary use.

A rough pronunciation guide for an English speaker is:

• La → lah
• baja → BA-ha
• médica → MEH-dee-ka
• termina → tehr-MEE-na
• hoy → sounds roughly like oy

A few specific points:

• the j in baja is the strong Spanish throaty sound, not an English j
• the stress in médica is on the first syllable: MÉ-di-ca
• the h in hoy is silent

The accent mark shows which syllable is stressed.

So:

• médica is stressed on mé

Without the accent, Spanish stress rules would make you expect a different pronunciation. The written accent helps you say it correctly.

This is very important in Spanish, because stress is a regular part of pronunciation and sometimes changes meaning or naturalness.

Yes, it is very typical in Spain.

In Spain, people commonly say:

• estar de baja
• coger la baja
• tener la baja médica

In other Spanish-speaking countries, different expressions may be more common, depending on the local healthcare and workplace system. For example, you may hear terms based on incapacidad, licencia médica, or other local wording.

So if you are learning Spanish from Spain, la baja médica is absolutely a useful and natural phrase.

Yes, very much so. Baja is a highly flexible word.

Depending on context, it can mean things like:

• low / short / small (feminine form of bajo)
• drop
• reduction
• cancellation
• removal from a list or service
• time off work due to illness, especially in Spain

That is why the full phrase baja médica is helpful: it makes the meaning specific.