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El abuelo es de México y la abuela es de Colombia.

El abuelo es de México y la abuela es de Colombia.
The grandfather is from Mexico and the grandmother is from Colombia.
From Lesson 2:Noun gender and definite articles (el, la)·Spanish (Latin America)

Questions & Answers about El abuelo es de México y la abuela es de Colombia.

Why does the sentence use el abuelo but then switch to la abuela?
In Spanish, nouns have a gender. Words ending in -o, like abuelo (grandfather), are usually masculine and use the masculine word for "the", which is el. Words ending in -a, like abuela (grandmother), are usually feminine and use the feminine word for "the", which is la.
Since we have el abuelo (masculine) and la abuela (feminine) here, how would I say "the grandparents" together?
When referring to a mixed group of males and females, Spanish always uses the masculine plural. So, "the grandparents" is los abuelos, even if you are talking about one grandfather and one grandmother!
Why do we use es de to say where they are from?
To talk about where someone is from (their origin), you use a form of the verb ser (to be) followed by de (from). Here, es means "is", so es de México translates exactly to "is from Mexico".
Why is the "x" in México pronounced like an English "h"?
In older Spanish spelling, the letter "x" sometimes made a sound like the English "h" (or the modern Spanish "j"). The spelling of México kept this historical "x", but you still pronounce it with that "h" sound, like "MEH-hee-coh".

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