El presidente llegó.

In Spanish, you normally use the definite article with many job titles and roles when you are talking about a specific person in general terms.

So el presidente is the natural way to say it in a full sentence like this.

Compare:

• El presidente llegó.
• La directora habló.

But if the title comes directly after a form of ser, the article is often left out:

• Es presidente.
• Fue directora durante dos años.

So here, el is there because presidente is the subject noun phrase of the sentence.

Spanish often leaves out subject pronouns because the verb ending already tells you who the subject is.

In llegó, the ending -ó tells you it is:

• he arrived
• she arrived
• it arrived
• or a formal you arrived

Because of that, Spanish does not need él unless you want extra emphasis or contrast.

So:

• Llegó = perfectly normal
• Él llegó = possible, but more emphatic, like he arrived

In this sentence, el presidente already identifies the subject, so adding él would be unnecessary.

The accent mark shows where the stress goes: lle-GÓ.

Without the accent, llego would be stressed differently: LLE-go.

These are different forms:

• llegó = preterite, he/she arrived
• llego = present, I arrive

So the accent mark is not optional here. It changes both pronunciation and grammar.

Llegó is the preterite tense of llegar.

The preterite is used for a completed action in the past, especially something seen as a single event.

So llegó presents the arrival as a finished action.

Examples:

• El presidente llegó a las ocho.
• Mi amiga llegó ayer.

A learner often compares this with the imperfect:

• llegaba

But llegaba would usually suggest an ongoing or repeated past action, or background description, which does not fit this simple completed event in the same way.

In most of Spain, ll is pronounced the same as y. This is called yeísmo.

So llegó is usually pronounced roughly like ye-GO.

A more careful approximation in IPA for much of Spain would be something like /ʝeˈɣo/, though pronunciation varies by region.

A few important points:

• It is not usually pronounced like the English l.
• It is not normally like the lli in million either.
• For most learners, thinking of it as a strong y sound is a good practical start.

Here it is masculine because the sentence uses el presidente.

For a woman, both of these are possible in modern Spanish:

• la presidenta
• la presidente

In present-day usage, la presidenta is very common and fully accepted in Spain.

So you may hear:

• La presidenta llegó.
• sometimes La presidente llegó.

If you are learning Spain Spanish, la presidenta is a very safe and common choice.

Not exactly. Llegó is specifically the preterite, so it means a completed past action: arrived.

In Spain Spanish, has arrived is usually:

• El presidente ha llegado.

This is an important distinction because in Spain the pretérito perfecto (ha llegado) is often used for recent past actions connected to the present.

Very roughly:

• El presidente llegó. = The president arrived
• El presidente ha llegado. = The president has arrived

In some Latin American varieties, the simple past llegó may be used more broadly where Spain Spanish often prefers ha llegado.

Yes, both are possible:

• El presidente llegó.
• Llegó el presidente.

Spanish word order is more flexible than English.

The version with subject first, El presidente llegó, is neutral and straightforward.

The version Llegó el presidente can sound more like:

• introducing the subject
• reporting an event
• focusing on the fact of arrival

So both are grammatical, but the emphasis changes slightly.

Not in this sentence, because it ends after the verb.

But if you add a destination, then llegar usually takes a:

• El presidente llegó al palacio.
• Llegó a Madrid.

So:

• llegó by itself = fine
• llegó a + place = also very common

That a is part of how llegar normally connects to a destination.

Yes, presidente is a clear cognate of president, and the meaning is very close.

But even with cognates, the grammar may differ. In this sentence, the key differences from English are:

• Spanish uses the article: el presidente
• Spanish often drops subject pronouns
• Spanish verb endings carry more information
• Spanish uses accent marks that affect meaning and pronunciation

So the noun itself is familiar, but the structure around it is characteristically Spanish.