iglesia

church

noun ee-GLEH-syah Less Common

Origin: From Greek ekklesia (assembly)

Usage Note

Iglesia with a capital letter (la Iglesia) refers to the Church as an institution; lowercase iglesia is a physical building. The initial i- means it takes the feminine article la without any ambiguity (unlike words starting with stressed a-). Ir a misa ('to go to Mass') and ir a la iglesia are distinct collocations.

Examples

"La iglesia está en el centro del pueblo."

Natural Translation

The church is in the centre of the village.

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