When to us "de" and when not to use "de"
Why do you use "de" with "el libro de amor" but you don't use "de" with "la comida mexicana"
5 Answers
At the base of it, because amor is a noun and mexicana is an adjective.
Nouns must be connected with de. Sometimes we do that in English:
La comida de México. The food of Mexico.
But sometimes in English, we use a noun as an adjective, that is not normally done in Spanish.
The airline pilot. El piloto de aerolíneas.
There are a few exceptions, like rush hour= hora pico or hora punta. In this case since they are both nouns, in plural you don't change the second noun- las horas pico. These exceptions are not generally considered beginner level Spanish.
Much more difficult is to know whether to include an article, use just a single noun or a plural one.
In un libro mexicano we have the noun libro and the adjective mexicano. We don't use "De"
Examples:
el árbol alto (alto is an adjective)
la mujer delgada ( delgada is an adjective)
los bancos verdes ( verdes is an adjective)
In English we can use a noun as an adjective.
Examples:
the language teacher (language is a noun but functions as an adjective )
a metal chair ( metal is a noun but functions as an adjective)
the leather shoes ( leather is a noun but functions as an adjective)
We can't use nouns as adjectives in Spanish. To use them we usually use the word "de" and we call them ( as far as I remember from high-school) frase adjetiva.
Examples:
el árbol de papel. the paper book
la mujer de plástico the plastic woman
los bancos de madera the wood(en) benches
la profesora de idiomas the language teacher
la silla de metal the metal chair
los zapatos de cuero the leather shoes etc. etc. etc.
Please feel free to correct my English
Most of the time, "de" can mean either "of" or "from" depending on what you mean in English. Soy de "España." (I'm from Spain) El escritorio es de madera. (the desk is of wood or wooden" A cup of coffee. "una taza de café.
Besides this usage, there are a lot of things that are idiomatic, and you use "de" where "of" or "from" doesn't appear in English.
Antes de---before
delante de ---in front of
Acordarse de ----to remember, And many many others. Here's a short article by Gerald Erichson who is the formost English speaking Spanish scholar. He also writes a daily blog. Remember there is much more about this which can be found by Googling "Uses of "de" in Spanish."
Link to "de"
Timely topic! I was just reading in my textbook regarding relative pronouns, and saw this sentence "El museu de que te hablé antes es el famous Museo De Oro".
If I was writing this or speaking this phrase, I would have omitted the word "de". Is this just a nuance or am I missing a grammatical rule of some type? Thanks so much!
¿De dónde eres? Where are you from? "de" is at the beginning, "from " is after or let's say at the end. This surprises many Spanish speakers a lot until we get used to it (some people never get it ).
¿Para qué quieres un lápiz? What do you want a pencil for? "para" is before but "for" is after.
El museo del que te hablé es grande. The museum (that) I spoke to you about is big.
"de o del" goes begore but "about" goes after.
El auto detrás del cual yo voy es un Fiat. The car I go behind is a Fiat. "detrás" goes before but "behind" goes after.
Please feel free to correct my English. I would help me a lot.
