El detergente es mío.

The detergent is mine.

Breakdown of El detergente es mío.

• ser: to be
• el detergente: the detergent
• mío: mine (masculine singular)

Questions & Answers about El detergente es mío.

Why is it el detergente and not la detergente?

Because detergente is a masculine noun in Spanish: el detergente.

This is a good reminder that nouns ending in -e are not always predictable by their ending. Some are masculine, some are feminine, so you often just have to learn the gender with the word.

Since it is masculine singular, other words connected to it also stay masculine singular:

• el detergente
• es mío

Why does the sentence use es instead of está?

Because Spanish normally uses ser to express ownership/possession.

So:

• El detergente es mío = it belongs to me

Using estar here would sound wrong. In Spanish, ser is used for identity, origin, characteristics, and also possession in sentences like this:

• Es mío
• Es tuyo
• Es nuestro

Why is mío placed after the verb instead of before the noun?