Possession with de: Spanish has no apostrophe s
Spanish has no *'s*. Possession runs the other way round: *Andrés's car* becomes *el carro de Andrés* — thing first, owner second, joined by *de*. When *de* meets the article *el* the two merge into *del*: *el carro del policía*. They never merge with *la*, *los*, *las*, or with the pronoun *él*.
Draft copy. Every claim needs a native-speaker check before publishing — the byline is what makes this citable, so it has to be earned.
Read the English backwards
There is no apostrophe s in Spanish. Instead you name the thing, then de, then the owner — which is the English order reversed.
| English | Spanish |
|---|---|
| Andrés’s car | el carro de Andrés |
| my mum’s breakfast | el desayuno de mi mamá |
| the engineer’s job | el trabajo del ingeniero |
| Luisa’s apples | las manzanas de Luisa |
The practical move is mechanical. Take Lola’s car, strip the ‘s, put the two nouns in the other order, drop de between them: el carro de Lola. It works every time, including for the ones English writes with “of” already — the door of the house is la puerta de la casa.
Note that the article at the front agrees with the thing, not the owner. La casa de Pedro is feminine because casa is, however male Pedro is.
de + el = del, and nothing else contracts
| de + el | del — el trabajo del mesero |
| de + la | de la — el carro de la profesora |
| de + los | de los — la comida de los niños |
| de + las | de las — los cafés de las esposas |
One contraction, four words, no exceptions. If you find yourself writing de el, it should be del.
The trap: de él is two words
El with an accent is the pronoun “he”, and it does not contract.
- El desayuno no es de él, es de Luis. — it isn’t his, it’s Luis’s.
- El desayuno es del jefe. — it’s the boss’s.
Same sound, different word, different spelling. The accent is the only thing telling the reader which one you meant, so it is not optional here.
Asking whose
¿De quién es…? — literally “of whom is it”.
- ¿De quién es el celular? — Es de Ana.
- ¿De quién es el perro? — Es del bombero.
Answer with es de plus the owner. You do not repeat the noun: es de Ana, not es el celular de Ana, unless you are correcting someone.
For more than one owner, ¿De quiénes son…? exists but is rare in speech; ¿De quién son estas maletas? is what people actually say.
Try it
- The doctor’s new pharmacy.
- Carla’s friend is tall.
- The children’s food.
- It isn’t his, it’s the lawyer’s.
→ 1 la farmacia nueva del doctor · 2 el amigo de Carla es alto · 3 la comida de los niños · 4 no es de él, es del abogado.
Next
De is not only for owners — it also links a thing to what it is made of, and to where you are from.
→ A, hacia and de: to, towards and of
Topics Nouns and articlesPrepositions
De, del, or de él?
Seven sentences about who owns what. Most of the traps are the contraction — when it happens and when it must not.
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1Andrés's car.
Answer
El carro de Andrés. — Thing first, then *de*, then the owner — the English order reversed. Spanish has no apostrophe s at all.
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2El trabajo ___ ingeniero.
Answer
del — *De* + the article *el* always merge into *del*. Writing *de el* is never correct in front of a masculine noun.
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3La comida ___ niños está caliente.
Answer
de los — Only *el* contracts. *De los*, *de la* and *de las* stay as two words however often you see *del*.
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4The breakfast isn't his, it's Luis's.
Answer
El desayuno no es de él, es de Luis. — *Él* with an accent is the pronoun “he” and it never contracts. The accent is the only thing separating it from the article.
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5Which article does *casa* take in *___ casa de Pedro*?
Answer
la — The article agrees with the thing owned, not the owner. *Casa* is feminine, so *la casa de Pedro* however male Pedro is.
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6How do you ask whose the dog is?
Answer
¿De quién es el perro? — *¿De quién es...?* — literally “of whom is it”. *¿Quién es el perro?* asks the dog to identify itself.
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7My dentist's wife is an engineer.
Answer
La esposa de mi dentista es ingeniera. — *De* goes straight in front of the possessive *mi* with no article and no contraction. *Del mi* does not exist.