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El dueño del hotel es rico.

El dueño del hotel es rico.
The owner of the hotel is rich.
From Lesson 23:Origin and possession (de, del)·Spanish (Spain)

Questions & Answers about El dueño del hotel es rico.

Why is it del hotel and not de el hotel?
In Spanish, when the preposition de (of) comes right before the masculine word for the, el, they always combine to form the contraction del. This makes pronunciation flow more smoothly.
Why can't I just say "el hotel's dueño"?
Spanish does not use an apostrophe-'s' for possession. Instead, you have to flip the order and use de (of). "The hotel's owner" always becomes "the owner of the hotel", which is exactly what el dueño del hotel means.
I thought rico meant tasty. Why does it mean rich here?
The adjective rico has two common meanings. When describing food, it means tasty or delicious. When describing people, like the owner in this sentence, it means rich or wealthy!
Why did we use es instead of está for "is"?
es comes from the verb ser, which we use to describe fundamental traits, identity, or lasting characteristics. Being wealthy is treated as a defining characteristic of the owner here, rather than a temporary state.
How would this change if the owner was a woman?
You would change the masculine el dueño to the feminine la dueña. Because the owner is now female, the describing adjective at the end must also change to match, making it rica. The full sentence would be: La dueña del hotel es rica.

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