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La mochila de mi hermana es grande, pero la de la niña es pequeña.

La mochila de mi hermana es grande, pero la de la niña es pequeña.
My sister's backpack is big, but the girl's is small.
From Lesson 139:Avoiding repetition (el de, la de, los de, las de)·Spanish (Latin America)

Questions & Answers about La mochila de mi hermana es grande, pero la de la niña es pequeña.

Why does it say la de la niña instead of just de la niña for "the girl's"?
In English, we can say "the girl's" to mean "the girl's backpack." In Spanish, you can't just leave de la niña hanging. You have to use the feminine article la to stand in for the word mochila (backpack). So, la de la niña translates to "the one of the girl" or "the girl's".
Why are there two las so close to each other in la de la niña?
They are doing two different jobs! The first la stands in for la mochila (the backpack). The second la belongs to niña (the girl). Together, la de la niña literally means "the one of the girl".
Why is it grande and not granda to match the feminine word mochila?
Adjectives that end in -e, like grande, are gender-neutral. They stay the same for both masculine and feminine nouns. However, pequeña (small) is an adjective that ends in -o or -a, so it must change to pequeña to match the feminine noun mochila.
Why do we say la mochila de mi hermana instead of using something like an apostrophe 's'?
Spanish does not have an apostrophe 's' to show possession. Instead, you always use the formula "[Object] + de + [Owner]". Therefore, "my sister's backpack" must be phrased as la mochila de mi hermana (the backpack of my sister).

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