Learn Spanish (Latin America): Ella es la niña.

Ella es la niña.

She is the girl.

Breakdown of Ella es la niña.

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Questions & Answers about Ella es la niña.

Do I have to include ella, or can I just say es la niña?

You can definitely just say es la niña. Spanish often drops subject words like yo, tú, and ella because the verb usually makes it clear who is doing the action. However, because es can mean "he is", "she is", or "it is", keeping ella in this sentence makes it perfectly clear that you specifically mean "she".

Why do we use es here for "is"?

We use es (which comes from the verb ser) to talk about identity, like who or what someone fundamentally is. Since being "the girl" is her identity, es is the correct choice. You will learn a different verb for "is" later that handles temporary states or locations.

Why is the word for "the" la instead of el?

In Spanish, nouns have a gender, and the words connected to them must match that gender. The noun niña (girl) is feminine, so it takes the feminine word for "the", which is la. If we were talking about a boy (niño), we would use the masculine word el to say el niño.

How do I pronounce the double L in ella?

In most of Latin America, the double L sounds just like the English "y" in the word "yellow". So, ella is pronounced like "EH-yah".