"Today is my sister's birthday."
Translation:Oggi è il compleanno di mia sorella.
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In Italian you leave off the article (il/la) for close individual family members. "Mia sorella" refers a single individual - my sister - and doesn't require "la."
"Famiglia" isn't talking about a specific individual family member, so it still requires the article: "la mia famiglia." Then di + la combines to give you "della."
Similarly, if you're speaking about plural family members, the article would also be required, because it's not about one specific family member. Ex: "of my sisters" = "delle mie sorelle."
If you keep the word order it is the same in English: "Today is THE birthday of my sister". It is a specific birthday so a better question might be why don't we put a "the" in "Today is my sister's birthday" and I suppose the reason is that "my sisters's" replaces the "the" as a specifier.