Spanish, like English, has a limited number of prepositions conveying information of the sort “from, of, to, at, for, with, toward” and so on. The problem for the learner is that these terms do not have a one-to-one correspondence from one language to the other. Today’s topic is the preposition de in two of its uses.

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De has many functions. First, we’ll show how to use it to indicate possession. In English, when something belongs to someone, the owner is indicated by adding ’s. (Of course no sound is signaled by the written apostrophe, which is a large literacy problem!)

• Lulu’s doll
• the boy’s bike
• Mr. Smith’s job

This even works for inanimate possessors:

• the item’s price
• the book’s cover

In English, if the possessor is something inanimate, the full prepositional phrase tends to be used for it unless the possessor is being emphasized. For example, you would probably say:

The color of the paint is too dark for this room.

But you might say:

The paint’s color clashes with the sofa’s color.

However, in Spanish, the possessor is always expressed by de + noun phrase.

la muñeca de Lulu — Lulu's doll
la bicicleta del niño — the boy's bicycle
el trabajo del señor Smith — Mr. Smith's job
el precio del artículo — the item's price
el forro del libro — the book's cover

Note that del is a contraction of de + el “of the”. De la remain separate words used if the owner is a feminine gender noun.

el color de la pintura — the paint's color
la manga de la chaqueta — the jacket's sleeve.

Another use of de, which may be useful to the Spanish learner who is going shopping or traveling, is to express the name of the material from which something is made.

el suéter de lana — the wool sweater
una pulsera de oro — a gold bracelet
unos aretes de plata — some silver earrings
las ollas de barro — the clay pots
una chaqueta de cuero — a leather jacket

Note that in this use of de, corresponding to “of”, there is no article before the noun specifying the material of which something is made.

Now that you can answer the questions:

¿De quién es? — Whose is it?
¿De qué está hecho? — Of what is it made?

…let’s try some mini-dialogues:

Q: ¿De quién es esta chaqueta? — Whose is this jacket?
A: La chaqueta de cuero es de Juan. La de lana es de Antonio. — The leather jacket is Juan's. The wool one is Antonio's.

Q: ¿Qué clase de joyería desea ver, señorita? — What sort of jewelry would you like to see, Miss?
A: Quisiera ver las pulseras y los aretes de plata por favor. — I would like to see the silver bracelets and earrings, please.

Q: ¿Estos platos son de barro o de porcelana, señor? — Are these earthenware or porcelain plates, sir?
A: Los platos son de porcelana y los plateles son de barro muy fino. — The plates are of porcelain and the platters are of very fine earthenware.

Q: ¿De qué son las canastas? — What are the baskets (made) of?
A: Algunas son de totora y otras son de mimbre. — Some are of reed and others are of wicker.

Espero que todo esto es…¡de utilidad!

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The plural form of nouns in Spanish is relatively easy to learn. There are really only three rules to follow.

1. Nouns ending in a vowel; add s:

mano — hand
manos — hands
señora — lady
señoras — ladies

2. Nouns ending in a consonant; add es:

lección — lesson
lecciones — lessons
profesor — professor
profesores — professors

3. Nouns ending in z; change z to c and add es:

luz — light
luces — lights
nariz — nose
narices — noses

Notice that under rule 2 above, the example also showed a change in written (and spoken) accentuation:

lección becomes lecciones

That is because adding es actually adds another syllable to the word and so a different accent rule applies. You may want to review the lesson on accents in Spanish.

In a nutshell, when words ending in n, s, or a vowel have a spoken stress, the accent mark is used. The word lecciones keeps its spoken stress on the -on syllable, but in the plural form of the word, with -es added, -on is no longer the final syllable and the word conforms to the unmarked configuration.

Okay, that was la parte más fácil. Now you have to know how to add “the” definite article. You see, in Spanish the article, noun and adjective must agree in number and gender. Think of it as a homogeneous noun phrase.

For example, if “the lady” is la señora, then “the ladies” is:

las señoras

That is, la becomes las, for the feminine gender. The masculine el becomes los in the plural form:

el hombre fuerte — the strong man

becomes,

los hombres fuertes — the strong men

Do you see that the article, the noun, and the adjective all become plural?

To anticipate your next question, and offer some help with it, visit: When are Spanish Nouns Feminine or Masculine?

Espero que encuentre las lecciones en este sitio informativos y divertidos.

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Telling time in Spanish is not difficult if you can remember a few simple rules. First, let’s look at a clock with time translations in Spanish:

So, what time does it say…in Spanish?

Son las cuatro menos diez. — It's ten to four.

Literally, “It is four minus ten.” Here’s why Spanish speakers convey time the way they do, including all the rules you need to remember:

1. First say the hour, then the minutes.

2. The hour number is always plural, except when denoting “one”.

12 = Son las doce...
1 = Es la una...
2 = Son las dos...
3 = Son las tres...
4 = Son las cuatro...
5 = Son las cinco...
6 = Son las seis...
7 = Son las siete...
8 = Son las ocho...
9 = Son las nueve...
10 = Son las diez...
11 = Son las once...

3. If it’s before the hour, except “quarter till”, you say menos followed by the number of minutes.

4. If it’s after the hour, except “quarter past”, you say y followed by the number of minutes.

Son las nueve y veinte. — It's nine-twenty. Or, It's twenty past nine.

5. Always say “the” (definite article) before the hour.

La una, las dos, las tres, etc.

6. If it’s exactly the hour, say en punto.

Son las doce en punto — It's twelve o'clock.

7. If it’s “half past” the hour say y media.

Son las cinco y media — It's five-thirty. Or, It's half past five.

8. If it’s “quarter past”, say …y cuarto. If it’s “quarter to”, say …menos cuarto.

Son las tres y cuarto. — It's three-fifteen. Or, It's quarter after three.
Es la una menos cuarto. — It's quarter till one.

Remember, you might say in English, “It’s twelve forty-five”, but Spanish speakers do not.

Hope you’ve had “una hora agradable.”

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Related lesson: How to Say “What Time Is It?” in Spanish.

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la pena — mental or spiritual anguish, misfortune (something to be sorry about that's not physical pain)

Me da pena. — It gives me pain (It causes me distress.)
¡Ay, qué pena! — What a drag! (What a misfortune!)

Be careful, because pena is a “false friend” corresponding to “pain”—it does not mean physical pain.

el dolor — pain, usually physical
dolor — to hurt, to ache, to feel pain

Tengo dolor de cabeza. — I have a headache.
Doctor, me duele la cabeza. — Doctor, my head aches.
Le duele la espalda. — His back hurts.

Whether or not you caused the pain, you will want to express your sympathy.

compadecer — to sympathize (literally, to suffer with)
Lo compadezco — I sympathize

sentir — to feel, to sense
Lo siento — I'm sorry

Lo siento is also appropriate for a social gaffe, but when you are responsible you will want to use a form of…

disculparse — to be forgiven

…where you are literally asking not to be held culpable.

Suppose you step on someone’s toe, you momentarily forget a name, you forget an appointment—there are so many small social misfortunes. You say:

¡Discúlpeme, por favor! — Forgive me, please!

or simply,

¡Disculpe! — Forgive! (me, is implied)

(Background for grammar buffs: the verb is disculpar “to forgive” but the form is the present subjunctive, conveying “May you forgive…” or “I hope you forgive…”)

If you have to interrupt someone at a task, in order to get their attention, you should apologize by saying:

Disculpe la molestia… — Forgive the bother…

And no, you are not asking advance forgiveness for some illegal act; molestar is another “false friend” meaning “bother”, not molest.

Finally, let’s deal with situations where you need to apologize in advance for what you are about to do, such as step in front of someone to reach your seat in a theater, or a bus or plane. Or you may need to excuse yourself from a group such as at a dinner table or a conversational gathering. In these cases you are actually asking permission, so remember to say:

con su permiso por favor — with your permission please

or simply,

con permiso — permit (me)

And if you should have the bad luck to trip and fall into someone’s lap as you clamber to your seat, by all means say:

¡perdóneme! — Pardon me! (please)

or simply,

¡perdón! — pardon! (me)

Just don’t say permiso in the above case. ¡Ay, qué pena! (How embarrassing!)

Here is a list of words and expressions on how to say you’re sorry in Spanish—with related phrases:

compadecer — to sympathize with
lo compadezco — I sympathize
disculpar — to forgive, to exculpate
disculparse — to be forgiven, to be sorry
discúlpeme — forgive me
el dolor — pain, hurt
dolor de cabeza — headache
doler — to hurt, to ache, to feel pain
me duele la cabeza — my head hurts, aches
la molestia — bother, annoyance
molestar — to bother, to annoy
la pena — mental pain, anguish, distress
me da pena — it causes me distress
sentir — to feel, to sense
lo siento — I'm sorry (for something)

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When beginning to learn Spanish, there will surely come a time when you want to know how to ask for directions to some destination. Let’s try a few schematic scenarios.

First, you may need to get someone’s attention:

Disculpe, señor (señorita) — pardon me, sir (miss).

Next, state your destination and your wish to get there:

Necesito ir al Hotel Miraflores. ¿Adonde queda? — I need to go to the Hotel Miraflores. Where is it located?

Of course there are many other ways to ask directions, but this is easy for an English speaking person and it will be taken as a request for directions.

Your addressee may say something like:

Lo siento, no sé. — Sorry, I don't know.

But probably you will get a helpful response. Here are some possibilities:

Siga derecho no mas. — Keep going straight ahead.

This one may be trickier to interpret than it seems. Especially in rural areas there is a tendency for the person giving directions to reorient the body in a certain direction and then gesture to indicate that you should proceed straight ahead in that direction, even though it may require a ninety degree turn for you.

En la esquina doble a la derecha y camine dos cuadras. — At the corner, turn right and walk two blocks.

Be careful not to confuse derecho ’straight’ and a la derecha ‘right’ (on the right, to the right).

Tome la calle a la izquierda hasta llegar a la avenida Martínez. — Take the street on the left until you reach Martínez avenue.

Está al otro lado de la plaza central. — It's on the other side of the central plaza.

Tiene que dar vuelta y regresar por esta calle medio kilómetro porque ya se pasó. — You have to turn around and go back on this street half a kilometer, because you passed it.

Here’s a glossary of useful, directions related, Spanish vocabulary words and expressions:

camino — road, way
una calle — street
avenida — avenue
un callejón — alley, lane
vereda — path, way
sendero — path
acera — sidewalk
huellas — track, footprints, tire tracks
adonde, por dónde — where, by which way
doblar — turn, as in, right or left (doblar is also 'fold' when you are dealing with clothing, paper, etc)
dar vuelta — turn around, reverse direction
seguir, siga (polite directive) — go, follow
regresar — return, go back
lejos — far away
cerca — near
a pocos pasos — a few steps away
al lado — next to, next door
al otro lado — on the other side
frente a — facing
detrás de — behind, in back of
una subida — ascent
una bajada — descent
parqueo — parking
estacionamiento — parking
alojamiento — lodging
aldea — village
pueblo — town
una ciudad — city
parador — stop, resting place
descanso — rest, resting place
fuente — fountain, drinking fountain
agua — potable drinking water

Remember that things are located with the estar verb, not ser. There are other ways of expressing being in a place or location:

queda en — stays, remains, is located at or on
se ubica en — is situated at
se encuentra en — is found at

El Hotel Miraflores se encuentra en la avenida de la plaza central. — Hotel Miraflores can be found on the avenue of the central plaza.

El Hotel Miraflores se ubica frente a la plaza central. — Hotel Miraflores is located on the central plaza.

Now that you know how to ask for directions in Spanish…

Hasta la vista. ¡Qué le vaya bien! — ‘Until again (see you later). Go safely!’