Why use "la" in this cirucumstance? Mi pintura favorita es "la" del siglo veinte
Why could you not just say del siglo veinte. Would not the la make it the of the 20th century? Or is la referring to the painting itself in this sentence
4 Answers
"es la del siglo XX" is an abbreviation of "es la pintura del siglo XX", but to avoid repeating "la pintura" twice in the same sentence it becomes "la". You can think of it as using "the one" in English.
The sentence in question can be said with or without the LA but the meaning changes. To say "Mi pintura favorita es del siglo veinte" would answer the question "¿De qué siglo es tu pintura favorita?" i.e. a general question about your favourite painting.
To say "Mi pintura favorita es la del siglo veinte" would answer the question, "¿Cuál es tu pintura favorita?" when there is a selection of paintings from different centuries and your favourite is the one from the 20th century.
This construction is used in English as well but could be considered a little pedantic eg "I like my friends house but I prefer that of my brother" We would normally say "....but I prefer my brother's." In Spanish it is not pedantic but as is often the case the Spanish is stricter gramatically. "Me gusta la casa de mi amigo pero prefiero la de mi hermano"
mi pintura favorita es la del siglo XX --------> it´s referring to the 20th century´s paintings and style, or to a particular picture in comparison with another from, for instance, 19th century (like saying : me gusta la de la derecha, I like the the one on the right).
mi pintura favorita es del siglo XX -------> meaning my favourite picture was made in the 20th century.
Those are different things:
Mi pintura favorita es la del siglo XX means your favourite is from this century, in general.
Mi pintura favorita es del siglo XX means that the pinture that is your favourite belongs to the XX century.
