pero esta es una ciudad grande.
but this is a big city.
The speaker passes on the police's excuse: they're trying, but in a place this size it isn't easy. Grande comes after ciudad to describe its size.
From El substituto 2 · Spanish audio
Spanish vocabularyA1 · Beginner
How to say "city" in Spanish
la ciudad
nounfeminineplural: las ciudades
"City" in Spanish is la ciudad. It's feminine even without a final -a, because nouns that end in -dad take la. The plural is las ciudades, and a town or village is el pueblo.
Hear "ciudad" in real movie scenes
A big city and a strange one. Each video starts and stops on that line.
Eh, Nueva York, ¡qué ciudad!
Hey, New York, what a city!
Deep in the sewer, by a river made of bad energy, the line comes out with dry humor. ¡Qué ciudad! can be praise or a complaint.
From Los cazafantasmas 2 · Spanish audio
City, town, downtown: place words
Six words to say where you live and where you're going.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| la ciudad | city |
| el pueblo | town, village |
| la capital | capital city |
| el centro | downtown, city center |
| las afueras | the outskirts |
| una gran ciudad | a great city, a big city |
Tip: Mexico City is la Ciudad de México, with de linking the word city to the name.
Grammar: la ciudad, las ciudades
Four rules for the word and the words around it.
-dad means la
la ciudad, like la universidad and la verdad. The ending -dad marks a feminine noun.Plural with -es
Ciudad ends in a consonant, so it adds -es: las ciudades, dos ciudades grandes.Grande or gran
After the noun, grande is about size: una ciudad grande. Before it, it shrinks to gran and means great: una gran ciudad.Living in a city
Use en: Vivo en la ciudad. To ask: ¿En qué ciudad vives? Which city do you live in?Example sentences
Sentences from the Wordy Spanish course. Tap to listen.
La ciudad es grande.
The city is big.
Vivimos en la misma ciudad.
We live in the same city.
Esta ciudad es bastante limpia.
This city is pretty clean.
Aquí en la ciudad soy nueva.
I'm new here in the city.
Common mistakes
Mistakes learners make with this word, and how to fix them.
✗el ciudad
✓la ciudad
The -dad ending makes the noun feminine, so it takes la even without a final -a.
✗las ciudads
✓las ciudades
A noun that ends in a consonant adds -es in the plural.
✗una grande ciudad
✓una gran ciudad
In front of a singular noun, grande becomes gran.
Practice: 3 quick exercises
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How to remember it
Ciudad sounds a lot like "see you, dad". Picture yourself waving to your dad as you leave home for the big city.
Questions about "city" in Spanish
How do you say city in Spanish?
La ciudad, plural las ciudades. For a smaller place, say el pueblo.
Is ciudad masculine or feminine?
Feminine: la ciudad, una ciudad. Almost every noun ending in -dad works the same way, for example la universidad.
How do you pronounce ciudad?
Say syoo-DAHD, with the stress at the end and a soft final d. In most of Spain the ci has a th sound: thyoo-DAHD.
What's the difference between ciudad and pueblo?
A ciudad is a city, and a pueblo is a town or village. Pueblo can also mean a people or nation, as in el pueblo español.
