Possessives adjectives in Spanish

Are you learning Spanish and need to know how to use possessives adjectives in your conversations? You've come to the right page! In this donQuijote article you will learn what are the possessive adjectives and pronouns in Spanish, how to use them and several examples to make it easier for you to understand them.

If you prefer to read in Spanish what are the possessives adjectives in Spanish, you can do it from here.

What are possessives in Spanish?

Spanish possessives are words that indicate possession or belonging to an animal, object, or thing. They are divided into two categories: possessive adjectives, also called possessive determiners, and possessive pronouns.

These Spanish words are essential for expressing relationships between people and objects, as well as for describing possession in a conversation or in a text. Here you will find a list of possessives adjectives in Spanish and some examples of how to use them.

Possessives adjectives in Spanish

Spanish possessive determiners or adjectives accompany a noun and are used to indicate to whom something belongs. The possessives adjectives in Spanish agree in gender (masculine/feminine) and number (singular/plural) with the noun they accompany.

This is the list of possessive adjectives in Spanish: mi, mis, tu, tus, su, sus, nuestro/a, nuestros/as, vuestro/a, vuestras/os. In English, these possessive adjectives correspond to: my, your, his, her, its, our, your and their.

In Spanish, each one corresponds to a personal pronoun, depending on who is speaking, for example, “mi” belongs to the person speaking, while “su” can refer to the third person singular or plural.

Here are some examples:

• Mi casa es grande (My house is big)
• Mi gato es naranja (My cat is orange)
• ¿Dónde están tus llaves? (Where are your keys?)
• Juan lava su coche (Juan washes his car)
• Es su responsabilidad, no la mía (It's his responsibility, not mine)
• Luis recoge su moto del taller (Luis picks up his bike from the garage)
• Nuestros amigos nos visitarán pronto (Our friends will visit us soon)
• ¿Dónde están sus mochilas? (Where are their backpacks?)
• Ellos han dejado sus abrigos tirados en el suelo (They have left their coats lying on the floor)
• Vuestro perro es muy juguetón (Your dog is very playful)

Possessive pronouns in Spanish

On the other hand, you can find the possessive pronouns in Spanish, which replace the noun and accompany it to indicate possession. These words also agree in gender and number with the noun they replace.

The list of possessive pronouns in Spanish is: mío/a, mías/os, tuyo/a, tuyas/os, suyo/a, suyos/as, nuestras/os, nuestro/a, vuestra/o, vuestras/os. In English correspond to: mine, ours, yours, his, her, theirs and whose.

Here are some examples:

• Ese libro es mío (That book is mine)
• Esta bufanda es tuya (This scarf is yours)
• ¿Ese coche es suyo? (That car is yours?)
• Esta es nuestra casa (This is our house)
• Estas son vuestras llaves (These are your keys)
• Es su plato de comida (This is your dinner plate)
• Las galletas que hay en la mesa no son nuestras (The cookies on the table are not ours)
• No se llevaron sus maletas, sino las nuestras (They didn't take your suitcases, they took ours)

In addition, it is important to remember that possessives vary according to the context and the relationship between people. Therefore, it is important that you practice the use of possessive adjectives and pronouns in Spanish to know how to use them in different situations and how to indicate that something is yours or someone else's. Improve your understanding and skills by practicing with exchange groups or by signing up for a Spanish course in Spain.