Log inSign up

El hijo de la tía es joven.

El hijo de la tía es joven.
The aunt's son is young.
From Lesson 17:Possession (de)·Spanish (Latin America)

Breakdown of El hijo de la tía es joven.

ser
to be
de
from / of
joven
young
el hijo
the son
la tía
the aunt

Questions & Answers about El hijo de la tía es joven.

Why does the Spanish sentence say El hijo de la tía instead of using an apostrophe like "la tía's hijo"?
Spanish doesn't use an apostrophe "s" ('s) to show possession. Instead, you have to use the word de (of) and flip the order of the words. So, "the aunt's son" becomes el hijo de la tía (literally: the son of the aunt).
Why do we use es instead of está for someone who is young? Isn't age temporary?
Even though youth doesn't last forever, Spanish treats being young (joven) or old (viejo) as a basic characteristic of a person rather than a temporary state or mood. Because it describes a core physical trait, we use es (from the verb ser) instead of está (from estar).
If the aunt had a daughter (la hija), would joven change to "jovena"?
No, it would stay exactly the same! Adjectives that end in a consonant (like the "n" in joven) usually have the same form for both masculine and feminine words. You would say la hija de la tía es joven.
Do I need to include la before tía? Could I just say El hijo de tía?
Yes, you need to include la. When using de to show possession, Spanish almost always requires the definite article (el, la, los, or las) before the person who owns the item or has the relationship.

Learn El hijo de la tía es joven and more in Spanish

All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.

  • ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
  • ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
  • ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free
Start learning Spanish →