Ella es de México y él es de Colombia.

Breakdown of Ella es de México y él es de Colombia.

ser
to be
él
he
de
from / of
México
Mexico
ella
she
Colombia
Colombia
y
and

Questions & Answers about Ella es de México y él es de Colombia.

Do I have to include ella and él, or can I just drop them?
You can often drop subject pronouns in Spanish. However, because both "she" and "he" use the exact same verb form (es), dropping them here would leave us with "es de México y es de Colombia". That translates to "is from Mexico and is from Colombia", and we wouldn't know who is from where! Using ella and él keeps the sentence clear and contrasts the two people.
Why does él have an accent mark?
The accent mark distinguishes él (meaning "he") from el (meaning "the"). They sound exactly the same when spoken, so the accent is only there in writing to help you tell them apart.
Why do both "he" and "she" use the same word, es, for "is"?
In Spanish, verbs change their endings depending on who is doing the action, but the pronouns for "he" (él), "she" (ella), and the formal "you" (usted) always share the exact same verb form. Here, they both use es, which comes from the verb ser (to be).
How exactly does the phrase es de work here?
To say where someone is originally from, you use a form of the verb ser (like es for he/she) followed by the preposition de (from) and the name of the place. So, "ella es de México" translates perfectly to "she is from Mexico."

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