Breakdown of Mijn nicht is de dochter van mijn tante.
de tante
the aunt
de dochter
the daughter
de nicht
the niece; the female cousin
Questions & Answers about Mijn nicht is de dochter van mijn tante.
Why does this sentence use van mijn tante instead of the possessive mijn tantes like the English "my aunt's"?
While you absolutely can say mijn tantes dochter (using the possessive -s for family members), Dutch speakers very often use the van (of) construction to show possession. Saying de dochter van mijn tante (literally: the daughter of my aunt) is incredibly common in everyday Dutch and sounds perfectly natural.
Doesn't nicht mean "niece"? The translation says "cousin".
Dutch actually uses the exact same word for both! A nicht is a female cousin or a niece. The same rule applies to the male equivalent: a neef is both a male cousin and a nephew. You have to rely on context to know which one is meant, or explain the exact family tie like this sentence does!
Can I shorten the word mijn to m'n when saying this out loud?
Yes, absolutely. In everyday spoken Dutch and informal writing, the possessive pronoun mijn is usually shortened to m'n. A native speaker would very likely say M'n nicht is de dochter van m'n tante.
In de dochter van mijn tante, the word van is used for possession. Isn't it also the word for "from"?
Yes, van is a very versatile preposition. While it often means "of" to show possession (as it does here), it is also the standard Dutch word for "from", like when you say Ik kom van Amsterdam (I come from Amsterdam).
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