Breakdown of Mis calcetines son negros, pero los de mi hermana son blancos.
ser
to be
de
from / of
pero
but
la hermana
the sister
Questions & Answers about Mis calcetines son negros, pero los de mi hermana son blancos.
How does los de mi hermana translate to 'my sister's'?
In English, we use an apostrophe-'s' to show possession, but Spanish doesn't do this. Instead of repeating the noun to say los calcetines de mi hermana (the socks of my sister), Spanish drops the word calcetines and just keeps the article los. So, los de mi hermana literally means 'the ones of my sister'.
Why do we use los instead of las or el before de mi hermana?
The definite article has to match the gender and number of the noun it replaces. Here, it is replacing calcetines (socks), which is a masculine plural noun. If we were talking about shirts (camisas, which is feminine plural), it would be las de mi hermana.
Why do negros and blancos both end in -os?
Why does the sentence start with Mis instead of Mi?