Following Ser With De

Even many very simple sentences can't be translated word for word into English.

If someone were to tell you, "Soy de Guatemala" and you knew that that soy is a form of the verb ser or "to be" and that de usually means "from" or "of," you wouldn't have a hard time figuring out that the sentence means "I am from Guatemala."

However, understanding ser when followed by de isn't always that straightforward. For example, try translating a sentence such as "La casa es de dos pisos" word for word and it won't make a lot of sense. You can learn more in this lesson on ser de; if you have questions, feel free to ask them by following the Comments link below.