Learn Spanish (Latin America): La madre de la niña es inteligente.

La madre de la niña es inteligente.

The girl's mother is intelligent.

Breakdown of La madre de la niña es inteligente.

Questions & Answers about La madre de la niña es inteligente.

Why is it La madre de la niña instead of "La niña's madre"?

Spanish doesn't use an apostrophe-s ('s) to show possession. Instead, you always use the pattern "the [object] of the [owner]". So "the girl's mother" becomes "the mother of the girl" (la madre de la niña).

Does the verb es match la madre or la niña?

The verb es matches la madre (the mother) because she is the main subject of the sentence. If we changed it to "the girls' mother" (la madre de las niñas), we would still use es because there is still only one mother being described as intelligent.

Why doesn't the word inteligente end in -a since we are talking about a woman?

While many Spanish adjectives change their ending to match masculine (-o) or feminine (-a) nouns, adjectives that end in -e are neutral. Inteligente stays exactly the same whether you are describing a man or a woman.

Why do we use es here instead of está?

We use es (from the verb ser) for permanent traits or core characteristics, like someone's personality or intelligence. We would use está (from the verb estar) if we were talking about a temporary condition, like how the mother is feeling today.