El búho duerme durante el día.

El búho can be used to talk about the owl in a general, species-level way, much like English sometimes says The owl sleeps during the day when talking about owls as a type of animal.

Spanish often uses the definite article for general statements:

• El búho duerme durante el día. = talking about owls in general / the owl as a species.

If you said Un búho duerme durante el día, it would sound more like an owl sleeps during the day, referring to one unspecified owl.

In this sentence, búho is treated as a masculine noun, so it takes el.

For animals in Spanish, grammatical gender does not always match biological sex. Here:

• el búho = owl (masculine grammatical form, or a male owl depending on context)
• la búho is not the normal standard form

If you specifically needed to talk about a female owl, Spanish often keeps the noun the same and shows sex another way, for example:

• el búho hembra = female owl

But in a generic sentence like this, el búho is the normal form.

Búho is pronounced in three syllables: bú-ho? Actually more precisely, it is heard as bú-o, because the h is silent.

The important point is that the ú and o are pronounced separately:

• bú-ho → approximately BOO-oh

So it is not pronounced as one smooth diphthong. The stress falls on bú.

The accent mark in búho shows that the u and o are pronounced in separate syllables, not merged together.

Without the accent, Spanish spelling rules might suggest a different syllable pattern. The written accent helps show a hiatus:

• bú-ho / bú-o

It also marks the stressed syllable: bú.

Because the verb is dormir and it is a stem-changing verb in the present tense.

In many present-tense forms, the o in the stem changes to ue:

• duermo
• duermes
• duerme
• dormimos
• dormís
• duermen

So:

• el búho duerme = the owl sleeps

This is a very common pattern in Spanish.

Duerme is the present indicative, third person singular.

In a sentence like this, it normally expresses a general truth or habitual action, not necessarily something happening at this exact moment.

So:

• El búho duerme durante el día means that owls sleep during the day in general

If you wanted to emphasize that it is happening right now, Spanish often relies on context, or you could use a progressive form in other situations:

• está durmiendo

But here the plain present is the natural choice.

Durante means during, so durante el día means during the day.

It is used to show the period of time in which something happens:

• durante la noche
• durante la semana
• durante el verano

In this sentence, it tells you when the owl sleeps.

Yes, but the nuance changes slightly.

Common options are:

• durante el día = during the day, focusing on the time period
• de día = by day / in the daytime, very common and natural
• por el día = possible, but less neutral here and often less idiomatic than de día in simple statements

So you might also hear:

• El búho duerme de día.

That is very natural Spanish. Durante el día is also correct and clear.

Spanish often uses the definite article with parts of the day and other time expressions, especially after prepositions.

So:

• durante el día
• por la mañana
• por la tarde
• durante la noche

In English, we often leave out the in some expressions, but Spanish usually includes it.

Día is pronounced in two syllables:

• dí-a

The accent mark shows that the stress is on dí, and it also helps indicate that i and a are pronounced separately rather than blended.

So it sounds roughly like:

• DEE-ah

Yes. Spanish word order is flexible, especially when you want to emphasize time or topic.

These are all possible:

• El búho duerme durante el día.
• Durante el día, el búho duerme.

The first is the most neutral.
The second puts more emphasis on during the day.

Because Spanish can use the singular definite noun to talk about a whole class or species.

So:

• El búho duerme durante el día. means The owl sleeps during the day, meaning owls generally.

Spanish can also sometimes use the plural for general statements:

• Los búhos duermen durante el día.

Both can express a general idea, though the singular often sounds like a species-level statement.

No. In standard Spanish, h is silent.

So in búho, you do not pronounce any h sound at all. You simply pronounce the surrounding vowels separately:

• bú-o

That silent h is one reason learners sometimes find the word tricky at first.