Breakdown of El olor del café sale de la cocina.
la cocina
the kitchen
del
of the
de
from
el café
the coffee
Questions & Answers about El olor del café sale de la cocina.
Why is it el olor and not la olor?
Because olor is a masculine noun in Spanish, so it takes el.
Even though olor does not end in -o, noun gender in Spanish is not based only on the ending. You often have to learn the gender with the noun:
- el olor = the smell
- el color = the color
- el sabor = the flavor
So the article el is simply agreeing with the masculine noun olor.
What does del mean here?
Del is the contraction of de + el.
So:
- de = of / from
- el = the
- del = of the / from the
In this sentence, del café means of the coffee or from the coffee, depending on how naturally you translate it.
Spanish normally contracts de + el into del:
- de el café ❌
- del café ✅
One important exception: if El is part of a proper name, you do not contract it. For example:
- de El Escorial ✅
Why is it ?