The Spanish preposition de (of) is used to express possession, in place of the 's or s' found in English. To say that something belongs to someone, invert the possessor and the thing possessed and put de between them. el libro de Juan Juan's book (literally, the book of Juan) la abuela de Luisa y Patricio Luisa and Patricio's grandmother la idea de los niños la iglesia de Santa Mónica the kids' idea Santa Monica's church In a sentence, possession can be shown in two ways: 1. Verb + ( article + noun ) + de + subject pronoun (*mí) (*ti) (él, ella, Ud.) (de nosotro(a)s) (de vosotro(a)s) (ellos, ellas, Uds.) + name of a person (Inés) (Jorge) + definte article + noun (+adjective) de los niños de las niñas de la niña *del niño *del doctor *del profesor (de + el = del) 2. ( article + noun ) + verbo + de + subject pronoun 1
The question to ask to whom something belongs is: De quién es? Whose is it? (el libro) (book) or De quién son? (los libros) Whose are they? ( pencils) Some possible answers are: 1. Es el libro de mí. = (El libro es de mí) It is my book. 2. Son los lápices de ella. They are her pencils. 3. Es la tarea de nosotros. It is our homework. 4. Es el cuaderno de Roberto. It is Robert s notebook. 5. Las botas son de Marcela. They are Marcela s boots. 6. Son las botas de Marcela. 7. Son los yoyos de la niña. They are the girl s yoyos. 8. Son las actividades de los estudiantes. They are the students activities. * 9. Es el libro del estudiante. It is the student s book. Note that you must include the definite article in front of the thing possessed. There is a contraction in the form de + el which becomes del as seen in (8). 2
(from: http://www.learningspanishlikecrazy.com/spanish_grammar/lesson015.html) English-speakers learning Spanish often assume that Spanish functions more or less exactly like English, except with different words. Therefore, many beginners will express the thought, as, NO!! I am my mother s daughter Yo soy mi madre s hija. There is no apostrophe-s construction in Spanish. There is no s construction in Spanish. As we have seen and will continue to see, Spanish is a totally different system of expression. While it has certain similarities and common roots with English, it is important to keep English grammar in your English brain. So how would one express I am my mother s daughter in Spanish? Well, if you had to say it in English without using s, how would you do it? I am the daughter of my mother. It sounds awkward in English, but the original meaning of the sentence remains, and no erroneous or non-existent structures have been inserted into the sentence. Can you translate that sentence word-for-word into Spanish? YES!! Yo soy la hija de mi madre. Hija de mi madre is the ONLY correct way to express My mother s daughter in Spanish. 3
I. Tranduzca al español usando de para mostrar posesión. (Translate to Spanish using de to show possession.) 1. She is Ana's mother. 2. It is the boy's bicycle. 3. It is the students' question. 4. It s the boy s black bicycle. 5. It s David's tie. 6. The party s food is delicious. 7. Luis is José's best friend. 8. The men's white house is big. 9. The professor s book is blue. 10. The women's sweater is red. 11. California's beaches are beautiful. 12. the girls money is in her purse. 13. It s my mom s red skirt. 14. There are five students books. 15. Luisa s friend is funny. 16. My Jacket s bottons are pretty. 17. Your friend s parents are nice. 18. Their plants flowers are beautiful. 19. My pants zipper is black. 20. Her mother s food is fantastic! 4
XI. Llene el espacio en blanco con de, del, de los, de la or de las. 1. Las gafas son ti. 2. Los chicles son niños. 3. Son los pantalones Sandra 4. El coche es mi amiga Teresa. 5. Las guitarras son músico. 6. Los perfumes son señoras. 7. La tarea es nosotros. 8. El parque es comunidad. 9. El disco compacto es él. 10 Las flores son mí. 11 Los chocolates son Ud. 12 La lámpara es ella. 13 El reloj es papá. 14. El correo electrónico es profesor. 15. Son los libros estudiantes. 16. Es el bolígrafo profesora. 17. Es el dinero señor Ochoa. 18. Son los libros Harry Potter amiga mí. 19. Son los libros él? 20. Son los cuadernos estudiante. 21. Es el papá ti. 22. Son los carteles chicos. 23. Es la clase español nosotros. II. De quién es (son)...? En pares hagan preguntas para saber de quién son las cosas abajos y luego contéstenla. 1) Sr. García 2) yo 3) mujer 4) estudiantes 5) Juanito 5