Notes

English
Right
Wrong

My car is new.
Mi carro es nuevo.

*Mio carro es nuevo.

María does not have her bike today.

María no tiene su bicicleta hoy.

*María no tiene sus bicicleta hoy.
Our bread is good.

Nuestro pan es bueno.

*Nuestra pan es bueno.

Her house is big.

Su casa es grande.

*Nuestro casa es grande.

Billy does not have his bike today.

Billy no tiene su bicicleta hoy.

*Billy no tiene sus bicicleta hoy.











In English we can say, "Gloria is the daughter of Tony." Or we can say, "Gloria is Tony's daughter." Those are two ways of showing grammatical possession. One way uses the word "of": "The daughter of Tony". The other way uses apostrophe-S: "Tony's daughter." Spanish does not have both of those ways. There is nothing like the apostrophe-S way in Spanish. We have to use the word de, which means "of".

Listen to this phrase: slowly:El barco de Gloria. Barco means "boat." So how would you translate el barco de Gloria to English? You could say, "the boat of Gloria." But a better translation would be "Gloria's boat."
The word tienda means "store." So what's the translation of this phrase? La tienda de Pablo. It would be, "Pablo's store."
If you were telling a story about Gloria's boat, you wouldn't actually say "Gloria's boat" very often. Most of the time you would just say, "her boat." So how do we say "her boat" in Spanish? We say, su barco.

The word su, spelled S-U, is very useful. It can mean not only "her," but can also mean "his," "their," or "your."

So, su barco can mean "her boat," "his boat," "their boat," or "your boat."

How can you tell which meaning is the intended one? Usually the context of the sentence makes it clear.







us zapatos están de moda. (Your/Her/His/Their shoes are in style.)

Nuestro pan es bueno. (Our bread is good.)

Vuestras zanahorias son deliciosas. (Your carrots are delicious.) [This “your” is plural.]
Note that the pronouns su and sus could mean your (formal), her, his, or their. The context of the sentence or conversation will make this clear.

For example:

María no tiene su bicicleta hoy.

María does not have her bike today.







POSSESSION USING DE
Pattern: Possession is often shown using the word de.

What You Are Used To

In English, an apostrophe is normally used with the letter 's' to show ownership or possession. A less common way of showing possession in English is to use this construction:

The _____ of _____.

The Spanish Way

Using the first construction from above is not allowed in Spanish. Since you can't use an apostrophe with the letter 's' in Spanish to show possession, you have to use the second construction from above, using the word de.

Examples:

John's book. (You can't do this in Spanish)

The book of John. = El libro de Juan.



The girl's house. (You can't do this in Spanish)

The house of the girl. = La casa de la niña.



The two sentences above mean the same thing, but only the second one is allowed in Spanish.

Note: A contraction is formed when "de" and "el" are next to each other.

de + el = del

the boy's car = el carro de el chico = el carro del chico

the man's lunch = el almuerzo de el hombre = el almuerzo del hombre



English

Spanish

A family of bears.

Una familia de osos.

A big bear. The daddy.

Un oso grande. El papá.

A middle-sized bear. The mama.

Un oso mediano. La mamá.

A tiny bear. The little son.

Un oso chiquito. El hijito.

The morning.

La mañana.

The mama prepares breakfast.

La mamá prepara el desayuno.

Puts it on the table.

Lo pone en la mesa.

Calls: Daddy Bear, Little Bear.

Llama: Papá Oso, Osito.

Come and eat.

Vengan a comer.

The food is very hot.

La comida está muy caliente.

Too hot.

Demasiado caliente.

The Bear family goes out.

La familia de osos sale de la casa.

They walk in the woods.

Caminan en el bosque.

A little girl walks through the woods.

Una niñita anda por el bosque.

She sees a house.

Ve una casita.

It's the house of the bears.

Es la casa de los osos.

She knocks at the door.

Golpea la puerta.

There is no one home.

No hay nadie en la casa.

So she enters.

Entonces entra.

She sees three plates of food.

Ve tres platos de comida.

She is hungry.

Tiene hambre.

She tries papa bear's plate.

Prueba el plato del papá oso.

It's a big plate, right?

Es un plato grande, ¿verdad?

Ahh! The food is too hot.

¡Ay! La comida está demasiado caliente.

She tries mama bear's plate.

Prueba el plato de la mamá osa.

It's a middle-sized plate, right?

Es un plato mediano, ¿verdad?

Ahh! It's too cold.

¡Ay! Está demasiado fría.

She tries baby bear's plate.

Prueba el plato del osito chiquito.

It's a little plate, right?

Es un plato chiquito, ¿verdad?

Hmm. Perfect.

Mmm. Perfecto.

She eats all the food.

Se come toda la comida.

She sees three chairs.

Ve tres sillas.

She sits in papa's chair.

Se sienta en la silla del papá.

It's big, right?

Es grande, ¿verdad?

Ahh! It's too hard.

¡Ay! Es demasiado dura.

She sits in mama's chair.

Se sienta en la silla de la mamá.

It's too soft.

Es demasiado suave.

She sits in baby's chair.

Se sienta en la silla del osito chiquito.

It's a tiny chair, right?

Es una silla chiquita, ¿verdad?

Hmm. Perfect.

Mmm. Perfecto.

But the chair breaks.

Pero la silla se rompe.

She goes to the bedroom.

Ella va al dormitorio.

She sees three beds.

Ve tres camas.

She lies down on papa's bed.

Se acuesta en la cama del papá.

It's too hard.

Es demasiado dura.

She lies down on mama's bed.

Se acuesta en la cama de la mamá.

Too soft.

Demasiado suave.

She lies on baby's bed.

Se acuesta en la cama del nene.

Hmm. Perfect.

Mmm. Perfecto.

And she falls asleep.

Y se duerme.

Now the bears return home.

Los osos ya vuelven a su casa.

The daddy looks at his plate.

El papá mira su plato.

He says: Someone has tasted my food.

Dice: Alguien ha probado mi comida.

The mama looks at her plate and says:

La mamá mira el plato suyo y dice:

Someone has tasted my food, too.

Alguien ha probado mi comida también.

The baby looks at his plate:

El osito mira el plato suyo:

Someone has tasted my food, too.

Alguien ha probado mi comida también.

And ate it all.

Y se la comió toda.

The little bear cries.

El osito llora.

The bears see the chairs.

Los osos ven las sillas.

Papa looks at his chair and says:

El papá mira su silla y dice:

Someone has sat in my chair.

Alguien se ha sentado en mi silla.

Mama looks at her chair and says:

La mamá mira la silla suya y dice:

Someone has sat in my chair, too.

Alguien se ha sentado en mi silla también.

The baby looks at his chair and says:

El osito mira la silla suya y dice:

And someone has sat in my chair, too,

Y alguien se ha sentado en mi silla también,

and has broken it.

y la ha roto.

The little bear cries.

El osito llora.

The bears go to the bedroom.

Los osos van al dormitorio.

The daddy looks at his bed and says:

El papá mira su cama y dice:

Someone has lain on my bed.

Alguien se ha acostado en mi cama.

The mama looks at her bed and says:

La mamá mira su cama y dice:

Someone has lain on my bed, too.

Alguien se ha acostado en mi cama también.

The baby looks at his bed and says:

El osito mira su cama y dice:

And someone lay on my bed, too.

Y alguien se ha acostado en mi cama también.

And is still there.

Y todavía está allí.

The little girl wakes up.

La niñita se despierta.

She sees the bears.

Ve a los osos.

She is extremely frightened, and she screams.

Está sumamente asustada y grita.

She jumps from the bed and runs out.

Brinca de la cama y sale corriendo.

And she never returns to the woods.

Y nunca vuelve al bosque.