Upon the use of possessive adjectives with a noun

[Nfqufktc]

I would appreciate it if you could clear up the following point:


Here is an excerpt from the text which is located at https://lingust.com/espa%C3%B1ol/esp...lecci%C3%B3n15
”sus vestidos son bonitos ... tu vestido también es bonito ... nuestros vestidos ya no están de moda ... nuestras faldas son demasiado largas…”

The given answer is “her dresses are beautiful ... your dress is also beautiful ... our dresses are out of fashion already ... our skirts are too long ...”


1. Why is it that they give “her dresses” for an answer? Couldn’t it be translated as “his dresses” as well?
And the context cannot be used as an excuse. Jose is sick and half asleep. He is just getting snatches of their conversation. His sister and her girlfriend could be talking about him (we already know that the girlfriend is sweet on him), about the latest rock star and so on.
2. Could the girls have made it clearer by using “sus vestidos de él” or, for example, “los vestidos de Bon Jovi”?

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by Nfqufktc

”sus vestidos son bonitos ... tu vestido también es bonito ... nuestros vestidos ya no están de moda ... nuestras faldas son demasiado largas…”

The given answer is “her dresses are beautiful ... your dress is also beautiful ... our dresses are out of fashion already ... our skirts are too long ...”

1. Why is it that they give “her dresses” for an answer? Couldn’t it be translated as “his dresses” as well?
(No, unless the man is a cross-dresser. Dresses are worn by women. Suits are worn by men.)
2. Could the girls have made it clearer by using “sus vestidos de él” or, for example, “los vestidos de Bon Jovi”?

The answers given in your lesson divulge the context the author was working with -- that women's dresses (not men's suits) are the topic. It's easy to see that women were talking about 'vestidos' and 'faldas', and menswear must be ruled out.

There must always be context to correctly translate anything. If the translation says 'dresses', we cannot change it to 'suits' without a change to the context. Stick with the context given. Two women were talking, and left, before we hear anything from José. The conversation he heard while half asleep, didn't involve him.

You asked about using «sus vestidos de él». It should be «los vestidos de él» to make sense (like you used in the next question). The addition of «de él» or «de Bon Jovi» makes it clear that the garments belong to a male (which would have been translated as 'suits'). Neither of these last proposals contain possessive pronouns, by the way.

[Nfqufktc]

Somehow I failed to see the woods for the trees. Of course, men wear suits. I looked up the word "vestidos", saw "clothes". And that started my line of reasoning. Thank you for pointing out this contextual detail.