Mi sobrina es muy curiosa y siempre pregunta por qué.

to be

Breakdown of Mi sobrina es muy curiosa y siempre pregunta por qué.

• mi: my
• muy: very
• siempre: always

Questions & Answers about Mi sobrina es muy curiosa y siempre pregunta por qué.

Why does the sentence start with mi instead of la or una?

Mi means my. It is a possessive adjective, so it shows who the niece belongs to in the family relationship: mi sobrina = my niece.

You would use:

• la sobrina = the niece
• una sobrina = a niece
• mi sobrina = my niece

In Spanish, possessive adjectives like mi, tu, su, nuestro usually come before the noun.

Why is it sobrina and not sobrino?

Because sobrina is the feminine form and means niece.
Sobrino is the masculine form and means nephew.

So:

• mi sobrina = my niece
• mi sobrino = my nephew

This is a normal masculine/feminine noun pair in Spanish.

Why do we use es here?