Learn Spanish (Latin America): Él es el niño.

Él es el niño.

He is the boy.

Breakdown of Él es el niño.

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Questions & Answers about Él es el niño.

Why does the first Él have an accent mark, but the second el doesn't?

The accent mark changes the meaning of the word. Él (with the accent) is the subject pronoun meaning 'he'. el (without the accent) is the masculine definite article meaning 'the'. They sound exactly the same, so the written accent is the only way to tell them apart!

Do I have to include Él, or could I just say es el niño?

You can absolutely just say es el niño! In Spanish, you can often drop the subject pronoun because the verb itself usually tells us who is doing the action. You only need to keep Él if you want to add emphasis or to clear up confusion, since es can also mean 'she is' or 'it is'.

Why do we use es for 'is' in this sentence?

We use es, which is a form of the verb ser (to be), because we are talking about someone's core identity. When you state who or what someone is, you use ser. es is the specific form that matches Él (he).

Would the word for 'the' change if this sentence was about a girl?