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Mi perro tiene tres cachorros.

Mi perro tiene tres cachorros.
My dog has three puppies.
From Lesson 149:Diminutives (-ito / -ita)·Spanish (Latin America)

Breakdown of Mi perro tiene tres cachorros.

tener
to have
el perro
the dog
mi
my
tres
three
el cachorro
the puppy

Questions & Answers about Mi perro tiene tres cachorros.

Since we are learning about the -ito suffix, could I say perrito or cachorritos here?
Yes! Adding the diminutive suffix gives a sense of smallness or affection. You could say Mi perrito tiene tres cachorritos (My doggy has three little puppies). Notice that for a word ending in -o like cachorro, you drop the final vowel and add -itos to make it plural diminutive.
Does cachorro only mean puppy?
While it usually means puppy when talking about dogs, cachorro is actually a general word for the young of mammals. You can use it for lion cubs (cachorros de león), bear cubs, and other baby animals.
If my dog is female, would the sentence change?
Yes, you would change the mother dog to match her gender: Mi perra tiene tres cachorros. The word cachorros stays masculine plural because in Spanish, a mixed-gender group of puppies defaults to masculine. If you knew all three puppies were female, you would say tres cachorras.
Why don't we use mis here, since there are three puppies?
The possessive adjective mi matches the noun right after it (the dog), not the puppies at the end of the sentence. Since there is only one dog, we use the singular mi perro. If you had multiple adult dogs, it would be Mis perros tienen tres cachorros.

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