Possessive adjectives (1) - Easy Learning Grammar Spanish

What is a possessive adjective?
In English a possessive adjective is one of the words my, your, his, her, its, our or their used with a noun to show that one person or thing belongs to another.

Like other adjectives in Spanish, possessive adjectives have to change for the feminine and plural forms.

Singular		Plural		Meaning
masculine	feminine	masculine	feminine
mi	mi	mis	mis	my
tu	tu	tus	tus	your (belonging to someone you address as tú)
su	su	sus	sus	his; her; its; your (belonging to someone you address as usted)
nuestro	nuestra	nuestros	nuestras	our
vuestro	vuestra	vuestros	vuestras	your (belonging to people you address as vosotros/vosotras)
su	su	sus	sus	their; your (belonging to people you address as ustedes)

For more information on Ways of saying ‘you’ in Spanish, see Pronouns.

¿Dónde está tu hermana?	Where’s your sister?
José ha perdido su cartera.	José has lost his wallet.
¿Dónde están nuestros pasaportes?	Where are our passports?
¿Por qué no traéis a vuestros hijos?	Why don’t you bring your children?
Mis tíos están vendiendo su casa.	My uncle and aunt are selling their house.

TipPossessive adjectives agree with what they describe NOT with the person who owns that thing.

Pablo ha perdido su bolígrafo.	Pablo has lost his pen.
Pablo ha perdido sus bolígrafos.	Pablo has lost his pens.

Note that possessive adjectives aren’t normally used with parts of the body. You usually use the definite article instead.

Tiene los ojos verdes.	He’s got green eyes.
No puedo mover las piernas.	I can’t move my legs.

For more information on Articles, see Articles.

TipAs su and sus can mean his, her, its, your or their, it can sometimes be a bit confusing. When you need to avoid confusion, you can say the Spanish equivalent of of him and so on.

su casa	→	la casa de él	his house (literally: the house of him)
sus amigos	→	los amigos de usted	your friends (literally: the friends of you)
sus coches	→	los coches de ellos	their cars (literally: the cars of them)
su abrigo	→	el abrigo de ella	her coat (literally: the coat of her)

For more information on Personal pronouns, see Pronouns.

Key points

The Spanish possessive adjectives are:

mi/tu/su/nuestro/vuestro/su with a masculine singular noun
mi/tu/su/nuestra/vuestra/su with a feminine singular noun
mis/tus/sus/nuestros/vuestros/sus with a masculine plural noun
mis/tus/sus/nuestras/vuestras/sus with a feminine plural noun

Possessive adjectives come before the noun they refer to. They agree with what they describe, rather than with the person who owns that thing.
Possessive adjectives are not usually used with parts of the body. Use el/la/los or las as appropriate instead.
To avoid confusion, it is sometimes clearer to use el coche de él/ella/ellas/ellos/usted and so on rather than su coche.

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