Welcome đ to our grammar lesson on Spanish Possessive adjectives and pronouns (âAdjetivos y pronombres posesivosâ).
Possessives indicate possession. In other words, who owns something. They are equivalent to the English my, mine, your, yours, hisâŠ
![Spanish POSSESSIVE Adjectives - Learn and PRACTICE (1) Spanish POSSESSIVE Adjectives - Learn and PRACTICE (1)](https://i0.wp.com/holaquepasa.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Example-of-Spanish-Possessive-Adjectives-700x506.jpg)
By the end of this lesson, you will be able tounderstand these wordsanduse them correctlyin sentences.
You will also finda Quiz and an Exerciseto practice.
Contents
- Short forms
- Long forms
- The ambiguity of âsu, suyoâŠâ
- Practice
Short forms
There are 2 types of possessives we need to study. We will call them short forms and long forms.
The following table shows the short forms:
English Singular Plural my mi mis your tu tus our nuestro, nuestra nuestros, nuestras your (of you guys) vuestro, vuestra vuestros, vuestras his, her, its, their, polite your su sus
Notes:
- All short forms need to match the number of the owned thing (singular or plural).
- nuestro and vuestro need to also match the gender of the owned thing (masculine or feminine).
We can only place short forms right before a noun (the owned thing):
Mi camiseta es azul.
My t-shirt is blue.Tus muñecas son lindas.
Your dolls are pretty. (âtusâ is plural, in order to match the owned thing: âmuñecasâ)See AlsoHow to Use Possessive Pronouns in SpanishSpanish Possessive Pronouns: Chart & Sentences - Spanish Learning LabSu coche es alemĂĄn.
His/her/their/your(polite) car is german.ÂżTe gustan nuestras sillas?
Do you like our chairs? (ânuestrasâ is feminine plural, in order to match the owned thing: âsillasâ)
Long forms
The following table shows the long forms:
English Masculine Singular Feminine Singular Masculine Plural Feminine Plural mine mĂo mĂa mĂos mĂas yours tuyo tuya tuyos tuyas ours nuestro nuestra nuestros nuestras yours (of you guys) vuestro vuestra vuestros vuestras his, her, its, theirs, polite yours suyo suya suyos suyas
Note:
- All long forms need to match both the number and the gender of the owned thing.
We can place the long forms anywhere in the sentence, except right before a noun (the owned thing):
La camiseta es mĂa.
The t-shirt is mine.Juan es un amigo mĂo.
Juan is a friend of mine.Las fresas son tuyas.
The strawberries are yours.El coche es suyo.
The car belongs to him/her/them/you(polite).Las mochilas son vuestras.
The backpacks belong to you guys.
It is possible to place a Definite Article (âel-la-los-lasâ) before a long form.
In this case, the long form represents a noun that we choose not to mention. The reason we donât mention the noun might be because we have done it already, and we donât want to keep repeating it:
El mĂo es verde.
Mine is green. (âEl mĂoâ represents a noun that is not mentioned. For example, it could be âmi cocheâ, my car).Mi impresora es mĂĄs moderna que la tuya.
My printer is more modern than yours. (here, obviously âla tuyaâ represents âtu impresoraâ, your printer. We just donât want to mention âimpresoraâ again)Vuestros caballos son rĂĄpidos, y los nuestros tambiĂ©n.
Your horses are fast, and so are ours. (âlos nuestrosâ obviously represents ânuestros caballosâ, our horses)
The ambiguity of âsu, suyoâŠâ
Each possessive form that begins with âsu-â (su, sus, suyo, suya, suyos, suyas) can mean different things (his, her, their, etc)
Then, how do we know exactly what it means in a specific sentence? We know it from the context.
Imagine we read the following sentence without any context:
Su casa es blanca.
⊠there is no way of knowing if that means âhis houseâ, âher houseâ, âits houseâ, âtheir houseâ or âyour (polite) houseâ.
However if we read:
Esta es MarĂa. Su casa es blanca.
This is MarĂa. Her house is white.
Then it is clear we mean âherâ, because MarĂa is a woman.
So remember: for all possessive forms that begin with âsu-â, context is key.
Practice
Quiz
Take this short Quiz about possessive adjectives and pronouns:
Exercise 1
In the following sentences and short dialogs, fill the gaps using possessive adjectives and pronouns. Donât forget to match the possessiveâs gender and number to the noun when necessary.
Click on the gray spaces to see the solutions:
1) ÂżEste mĂłvil es tuyo ?
Is this cellphone yours?
2) SĂ, es mi mĂłvil.
Yes, it is my cellphone.3) Las gafas son de Ana. Son suyas .
The glasses belong to Ana. They belong to her.4) El libro es de Ana. Es su libro.
The book belongs to Ana. It is her book.5) Los libros son de Ana y Laura. Son suyos .
The books belong to Ana and Laura. They belong to them.
Exercise 2
More sentences!:
6) ÂżEsta botella es tuya ?
Is this bottle yours?
7) SĂ, es mi botella. Es mĂa .
Yes, it is my bottle. It is mine.8) ÂżEl lĂĄpiz es vuestro ?
Does the pencil belong to you guys?
9) SĂ, es nuestro .
Yes, it belongs to us.10) Mi casa es mĂĄs grande que la tuya .
My house is bigger than yours.
Spanish Demonstrative Adjectives and Pronouns â Learn and PracticeShortened Adjectives in Spanish: âbuen, granâŠâSuperlatives with ĂSIMO in Spanish â Learn and PracticePlural of adjectives in Spanish â Learn and PracticeSpanish Superlatives with âmĂĄsâ and âmenosâ â Learn and PracticeThe Numbers in Spanish â Learn and PracticeSpanish Future Perfect â Learn and Practiceâporâ vs âparaâ in Spanish â Learn and Practice