capital
/kapiˈtal/
The Spanish word capital means chief or the seat of a general government in a political sense.
capital is used as an adjective to describe a city that serves as the political center of a state or nation. You can also use the phrase ciudad capital to express the same idea in a more formal way.
Meaning: chief (in a political sense, as being the seat of the general government of a state or nation) (adj)
Which one should you use?
While capital is the standard term, ciudad capital is a more formal alternative. In informal or playful speech, one might use the diminutive capitalito to refer to a capital city.
Related words
How does it change in a sentence?
The feminine plural form of the word is las capitales.
How do you pronounce it?
/kapiˈtal/
Did you know?
- In Spanish, capital can also mean 'money' or 'wealth' when used as a masculine noun, 'el capital'. This is a different grammatical gender than the feminine noun used for 'capital cities', 'la capital'.
- In Spanish, capital can also describe a crime of such severity that it is punishable by death, referred to as un delito capital.
- While 'la capital' refers to a city, if you want to talk about 'capital letters', you must use the phrase letras mayúsculas instead of using the word capital.
Examples in context
- El capital está muerto.Capital is dead.This sentence demonstrates the use of capital.Tatoeba #6154040 by aadrian, translation #6154035 by aadrian
- ¡Qué capital más tristona!That's a pretty sad-looking capital city.This sentence shows how to describe a capital city using capital.Tatoeba #4553609 by swyter, translation #4549637 by mailohilohi
- Alofi es la capital de Niue.Alofi is the capital of Niue.This sentence identifies a specific city as the capital of a nation.Tatoeba #7910013 by ecorralest101, translation #7909275 by MarijnKp
- La capital de España es Madrid.The capital of Spain is Madrid.
- México D.F. es la ciudad capital de México.Mexico City is the capital city of Mexico.
- Buenos Aires es la capital de Argentina.Buenos Aires is the capital of Argentina.
- 250 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Mateo and Lucía are discussing geography while studying.
- Mateo¿Cuál es la ciudad capital de Francia?Which is the capital city of France?
- LucíaEs París, por supuesto.It is Paris, of course.
- MateoTengo que visitar la capital algún día.I have to visit the capital someday.
- LucíaTú también deberías ir, Mateo.You should go too, Mateo.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “capital” translations and entries capital, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
