Log inSign up

Nosotros compramos un cinturón barato y el de ese hombre.

Nosotros compramos un cinturón barato y el de ese hombre.
We buy a cheap belt and that man's.
From Lesson 140:Avoiding repetition (el de, la de, los de, las de)·Spanish (Latin America)

Questions & Answers about Nosotros compramos un cinturón barato y el de ese hombre.

Why does the Spanish sentence use el de ese hombre to mean "that man's"?
Spanish doesn't have an apostrophe-'s for possession. Instead, it uses the pattern "the [item] of the [person]". To avoid repeating the word cinturón (belt), we use the definite article el as a placeholder. So, el de ese hombre literally translates to "the one of that man".
Why do we use el specifically here instead of la or lo?
The article has to match the gender and number of the noun it replaces. Because cinturón is a masculine, singular noun, you must use the masculine, singular article el. If we were talking about a shirt (una camisa), we would say la de ese hombre.
Why is "that man" translated as ese hombre instead of eso hombre?
When describing a specific masculine noun, the word for "that" is always ese. The word eso is neutral; it is used for abstract ideas, situations, or unknown objects, and it is never placed directly in front of a noun.
Doesn't compramos mean "we bought" in the past tense?
It can mean both! For regular verbs ending in "-ar", the "we" (nosotros) form is exactly the same in the present tense ("we buy") and the simple past tense ("we bought"). You usually rely on context or time words like "yesterday" or "every day" to know which one it is.

Learn Nosotros compramos un cinturón barato y el de ese hombre 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 →