"De, del, de la, de los, and de las" What do they mean?
i need help knowing what they all mean i know they mean the same thing but i need to know what each goes to
4 Answers
de = of
Del, de la, de los, and de las all mean "of the". Del is a contraction of de + el. The only difference between the four phrases is the words that are used for "the".
el = the (masculine singular)
la = the (feminine singular)
los = the (masculine plural)
las = the (feminine plural)
Sorry - I messed up the last word in my answer - should be "boys' not "girls"
de" translates to "of" "del" is "of the" (masculine, singular) de-el>del. El mejor del mundo (The best of the world) You can probably guess the rest: "de la" of the (feminine singular) Un amigo de la mujer. (A friend of the woman.) "de los" of the (masculine plural) Un amigo de los chicos. (A friend of the boys.)
one use of "de" in Spanish is to show possession.
so Miguel's un amigo de la mujer is the woman's friend
similarly, un amigo de los chicas is the girls' (male) friend
de can have many other meanings, however.
Una carta de los Gonzales can mean a letter from the Gonzales family
Soy de los EE.UU. means from or of as in Where are you from?
another common use of de is to describe what something is made of.
Es una caja hecha de las maderas más caras.
It is a box made of the most expensive woods.
So to answer your question, what these words mean depends largely on the context that they are being used in (as with most words in any language).
"de" translates to "of" "del" is "of the" (masculine, singular) de-el>del. El mejor del mundo (The best of the world) You can probably guess the rest: "de la" of the (feminine singular) Un amigo de la mujer. (A friend of the woman.) "de los" of the (masculine plural) Un amigo de los chicos. (A friend of the girls.)
