Learn Spanish (Latin America): Después del trabajo, tomo un café con mi madre. - After work, I have a coffee with my mother.

In Spanish, when the preposition de (of/from) is followed immediately by the masculine 'the' (el), they combine to form the contraction del. This is a mandatory rule, so you will never see de el written separately unless the él has an accent mark meaning 'he'.

The translation says 'I have a coffee.' Why not use tengo?

In English, we use 'have' for consuming food or drinks, but in Spanish, tener is strictly used for possession. To talk about having a drink or a meal, you use tomar (to take) or beber (to drink). In Latin America, tomar is the most natural and common way to say you are having a coffee.

Does después always need to be followed by de?

You only need de when you mention what comes next, like saying 'after [something].' Here, de connects 'after' to 'the work.' If you just want to say 'afterwards' or 'later' without naming the event, you drop the de and just say después (for example: Tomo un café después).

Is it better to say mi madre or mi mamá here?