La orquídea tiene dos flores.

to have

Breakdown of La orquídea tiene dos flores.

• la flor: the flower
• dos: two
• la orquídea: the orchid

Questions & Answers about La orquídea tiene dos flores.

Why is there la at the beginning?

Because la orquídea means the orchid: a specific orchid, not just any orchid.

In Spanish, a singular countable noun like orquídea normally needs an article or another determiner in this kind of sentence:

• la orquídea = the orchid
• una orquídea = an orchid
• mi orquídea = my orchid

So Orquídea tiene dos flores would sound incomplete or wrong in normal Spanish, unless Orquídea were a person’s name.

Why is it la orquídea and not el orquídea?

Because orquídea is a feminine noun in Spanish, so it takes la in the singular:

• la orquídea
• las orquídeas

This is grammatical gender, not biological sex. Even though it is a plant, the noun itself is treated as feminine.

What does the accent mark in orquídea do?

The accent mark shows where the stress goes: or-QUÍ-de-a.

Without the accent, a Spanish speaker would expect the stress to fall in a different place. The written accent tells you to stress quí.

It is also useful to notice that orquídea has four syllables:

• or
• quí
• de
• a

How do you pronounce orquídea and the whole sentence?