Breakdown of Después del trabajo, tomo un café con mi madre.
la madre
the mother
mi
my
el café
the coffee
con
with
el trabajo
the work
del
from the / of the
tomar
to take / to drink
después
after / afterwards
Questions & Answers about Después del trabajo, tomo un café con mi madre.
Why is it del trabajo and not de el trabajo?
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?
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?
Both are perfectly fine! Mi madre means 'my mother,' which sounds just a little bit more formal. Mi mamá translates to 'my mom,' which is warmer and extremely common in everyday Latin American Spanish. You can use whichever fits your relationship better.
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