de
/de/
The Spanish word for 'of' is de.
In Spanish, the possessive relationship is expressed by placing the preposition de between the possessed object and the possessor, rather than using an 's ('s).
Meaning: possessive genitive: belonging to (prep)
How does it change in a sentence?
When the preposition de is followed by the masculine singular article el, they must contract into the single word del. Unlike the masculine contraction, de does not contract with the feminine singular article la.
How do you pronounce it?
/de/
What mistakes should you avoid?
English speakers often mistakenly use the possessive adjective su (his/her/their) where Spanish requires a de construction to show possession.
Did you know?
- In many Spanish-speaking cultures, a person's surname is historically preceded by de to indicate the town or region their family originated from.
- In Spanish, de is used to describe what something is made of, such as mesa de madera for a 'wooden table'. This replaces the English adjective 'wooden'.
- The Spanish word de is a direct descendant of the Latin preposition dē, which has meant 'from' or 'down from' for thousands of years.
Examples in context
- Es fin de año.It's the end of the year.This sentence demonstrates using de to talk about the end of a time period.Tatoeba #5714200 by arh, translation #5697129 by Hybrid
- Me burlé de él.I made fun of him.This sentence shows de following a verb to indicate the object of an action.Tatoeba #1871432 by Shishir, translation #1008809 by AOCinJAPAN
- Sal de mi cama.Get out of my bed.This sentence illustrates the use of de to indicate movement out of a location.Tatoeba #3666137 by Seael, translation #1934890 by Spamster
- Una taza de café.A cup of coffee.
- La ciudad de Madrid.The city of Madrid.
- El libro de Juan.The book of Juan.
- La casa de mis padres.The house of my parents.
- Los juguetes de los niños.The toys of the children.
- El color de sus ojos.The color of his eyes.
- Un sombrero de paja.A hat of straw.
- Una mujer de gran coraje.A woman of great courage.
- La capital de España es Madrid.The capital of Spain is Madrid.
- La compañía de Don Rodriguez.The company of Mr. Rodriguez.
- La casa del amigo mío.The house of my friend.
- 15843 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Mateo and Elena are looking at a painting in a museum.
- MateoEs el cuadro de la ciudad.It is the painting of the city.
- ElenaSí, es muy bonito.Yes, it is very beautiful.
- Mateo¿Es de un artista famoso?Is it by a famous artist?
- ElenaNo lo sé, Mateo.I don't know, Mateo.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “of” translations and entries de, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries de, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
