Learn Spanish (Latin America): Los hospitales necesitan doctores.

In Spanish, when a noun ends in a consonant like the 'l' in hospital or the 'r' in doctor, you make it plural by adding '-es'. If the noun ended in a vowel, you would only add '-s'.

How do we know if hospitales is masculine or feminine?

We can tell it is masculine because it uses the masculine plural word for 'the', which is Los. The singular form is el hospital.

Why does the verb necesitan end in an '-n'?

The verb necesitar (to need) ends in '-n' here because the subject of the sentence, Los hospitales, is plural. Whenever 'they' or a plural noun performs an action in the present tense, the verb will end in '-n'.

Do you pronounce the 'h' in hospitales?

No, the 'h' is completely silent in Spanish. Even though the word looks just like the English word, you start pronouncing it from the 'o' sound: 'os-pee-tah-les'.