Learn Spanish (Latin America): Él es de México.

Él es de México.

He is from Mexico.

Breakdown of Él es de México.

Questions & Answers about Él es de México.

Why does Él have an accent mark?

The accent mark shows that él means "he". Without the accent mark, el means "the" (as in el niño, the boy). Both words sound exactly the same when you speak, so the accent mark is just there to help you tell them apart when reading and writing!

Can I drop the word Él and just say Es de México?

Yes! In Spanish, you can usually drop words like "I" or "he" because the verb gives you a clue. However, the verb es can mean "he is", "she is", or "you (formal) are". Because it can mean a few different things, people often include Él at the start of a sentence to make it perfectly clear exactly who they are talking about.

How do we say where someone is from?

To talk about origin, you use a form of the verb ser (to be) followed by de (from). Here we use es because we are talking about "him". If you wanted to talk about yourself, you would use soy, making it Yo soy de México (I am from Mexico).

Why does the 'x' in México sound like an English 'h'?

In old Spanish, the letter 'x' was often used to represent an "h" or "sh" sound. Over time, the language changed to use the letter 'j' for that sound instead. However, a few important place names with indigenous roots, like México and Texas, kept their traditional spelling with an 'x' while keeping the "h" sound!