Spanish’s possessive construction
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In English, we use ‘s (apostrophe s) to indicate that one noun possesses another. The Spanish equivalent is the preposition de, with the order of the nouns reversed.
Por ejemplo…
la carta de Juan | Juan’s letter | |
los pueblos de España | Spain’s towns |
Literally, "the letter of Juan" and "the towns of Spain.”
When the owner is not a proper name, it must be preceded by a modifier, such as an article, possessive adjective, or demonstrative adjective.
Por ejemplo…
el trabajo del ingeniero | the engineer’s work | |
los coches de mi familia | my family’s cars | |
la carta de esta chica | this girl’s letter |
When the owner is plural, as signified by s’ (s apostrophe) in English, the Spanish modifier must be plural.
Por ejemplo…
la carta de estas chicas | these girls’ letter | |
los coches de mis niños | my kids’ cars |
As always, de must contract with the definite article el.
el coche del chico | the boy’s car | |
el trabajo del ingeniero | the engineer’s work |
Related lessons
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