Inklingo

How to Say "fossil" in Spanish

The Spanish word forfossilis fósilB1 level.

English → SpanishB1

fósil

nounB1
remains of a prehistoric organism
A detailed stone imprint of a prehistoric fish bone structure.

Examples

El museo tiene un fósil de dinosaurio impresionante.

The museum has an impressive dinosaur fossil.

Encontraron un fósil de una planta antigua en la mina.

They found a fossil of an ancient plant in the mine.

Los científicos usan el carbono para saber la edad del fósil.

Scientists use carbon to find out the age of the fossil.

The Plural Rule

To make 'fósil' plural, add '-es' to get 'fósiles'. The accent mark stays on the 'o' because the word becomes an 'esdrújula' (a word stressed on the third-to-last syllable), which always needs an accent mark.

Identifying Gender

Most Spanish nouns ending in '-il' are masculine (like 'el carril' or 'el perfil'), and 'el fósil' follows this pattern.

Missing the Accent

Mistake:fosil

Correction: fósil. In Spanish, words ending in 'l' are usually stressed on the last syllable. Since we stress the first syllable here (FO-sil), we must write the accent mark.

Related Translations

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