In this lesson, we will talk about the possession in Spanish, how to express it and how to avoid the confusion, followed by examples.
Possessive Adjectives In Spanish
Possessive adjectives are used to indicate to whom or to what a thing/person belongs, and they always come before the owned:
Mi libro – my book
Every personal pronoun has its matching possessive adjective, and the selection of the adjective depends on the gender of the “owned” thing/person, and they must agree in gender and number
| Personal Pronouns | Possessive Adjectives (Masc) | Possessive Adjectives (Fem) | English |
| Yo | mi | mi | My |
| Tú | tu | tu | Your (singular) |
| Él | su | su | His |
| Ella | su | su | Hers |
| Nosotros | nuestro | nuestra | Our |
| Vosotros | vuestro | vuestra | Your (plural) |
| Ellos | su | su | Their |
| Ellas | su | su | Their (feminine) |
Note: to get the plural form, add “s“: mi, mis
Mis libros – my books
If you take a look at the table, you would notice that it’s a bit confusing regarding the “su” thing, try to translate this into English: Su libro
Is it his, hers, its, your or their?
To avoid confusion where it is not clear you can use “de + the matching personal pronoun”
Example: their book – el libro de ellos
Note: you can practice what you’ve learned here, and learn how to pronounce each of the words in our Memrise course here, don’t know how to use the platform or sign up? we’ve got you covered in this easy-to-follow tutorial here.
Possessive Pronouns In Spanish
We use the possessive pronouns to avoid repetition: este libro no es mi libro -> este no es el mío
Every possessive adjective has its equivalent pronoun
| Yo > mi > el mío / la mía | mine |
| Tú > tu > el tuyo / la tuya | yours |
| Él/ ella > su > el suyo / la suya | his, hers, its |
| Nosotros > nuestro / nuestra > el nuestro / la nuestra | ours |
| Vosotros > vuestro / vuestra > el vuestro / la vuestra | yours |
| Ellos / ellas > su > el suyo / la suya | theirs |
And the plural form:
| los míos / las mías | mine |
| los tuyos / las tuyas | yours |
| los suyos / las suyas | his, hers, its |
| los nuestros / las nuestras | ours |
| los vuestros / las vuestras | yours |
| los suyos / las suyas | theirs |
That was today’s lesson about the possession in Spanish
Happy learning
