Spanish Possessive Adjectives
My Hat, Your Hat: Understanding Possessive Adjectives: These types of adjectives are used to express possession or ownership.
When the pronoun is singular, these adjectives do not change according to gender. However, when the pronoun is plural (nosotros or vosotros), the possessive adjectives do reflect the gender of the subject noun.
| Singular Noun | Plural Noun | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| mi | mis | my |
| tu | tus | your (familiar) |
| su | sus | their, your, his, her , its |
| nuestro/a | nuestros/as | our |
| vuestro/a | vuestros/as | your (formal) |
As you can see from the table above, all possessive adjectives reflect the quantity of the noun to which they refer.
Resources for further reading:
What is Owned v. Who Owns It
It may seem confusing to distinguish between the pronoun (e.g., I, you, we, them) implied by the possessive adjective, and the noun that is the subject of the sentence.
Possessive adjectives will not reflect the gender or quantity of the person or persons owning a thing; rather, they’ll reflect the gender and quantity of the thing being owned.
For example, take the sentence, “My hands are sore.”
What is the subject? Hands (in Spanish, manos). What is the possessive adjective? My (in Spanish, mis). What is the descriptive adjective? Sore (in Spanish, doloridas).
Both the possessive and descriptive adjectives will reflect the gender and quantity of the subject noun, “hands.”
Por ejemplo:
Practice Your Pronunciation With Rocket Record
Rocket Record lets you perfect your Spanish pronunciation. Just listen to the native speaker audio and then use the microphone icon to record yourself. Once you’re done, you’ll get a score out of 100 on your pronunciation and can listen to your own audio playback. (Use a headset mic for best results.) Problems? Click here!
El color de mi vestido es negro.
The color of my dress is black.
Sus padres están enfermos.
Their parents are sick.
Nuestras carteras son iguales.
Our handbags are the same.
This is All Mine
There is another way of referring to what you own. You may wish to say, “That car is mine,” or, “The purse is hers.” Use one of the following words:
| Singular | Plural | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| mío/a | míos/as | mine, my |
| tuyo/a | tuyos/as | your, yours |
| suyo/a | suyos/as | his, her, hers, its, your, yours |
| nuestro/a | nuestros/as | our, ours |
| vuestro/a | vuestros/as | your, yours |
Por ejemplo:
El carro es mío.
The car is mine.
The handbag is hers.
La cartera es suya.
The apples are ours.
Las manzanas son nuestras.
Just like an ordinary adjective, you must match the gender (masculine or feminine) and quantity (singular or plural) of the stressed possessive adjective to the noun.
You can also use one of these words to replace the noun. Look at the difference between the following sentences:
Is this seat yours? ¿Es este asiento suyo?
I don’t want to use yours. No quiero usar el tuyo.
In the first sentence, “yours” is acting as an adjective. In the second sentence, “yours” is acting as a pronoun.
To use mío, tuyo, suyo, etc. as pronouns, all you have to do is add an el, la, los, or las in front.
For example, if you want to use “mine” as a noun (as in, “Mine is the best,” or, “You want mine”), you will use el mío, la mía, los míos, or las mías.
Por ejemplo:
- ¿Tienes tú los libros de la biblioteca?
- Do you have the books from the library?
- Sí, y también tengo los míos.
- Yes, and mine too.
- ¿Mi casa está muy desordenada, y la tuya?
- My house is very messy, and yours?
- La mía está muy limpia.
- Mine is very clean.
- ¡Las flores en mi jardín están todas secas!
- The flowers in my garden are all dry!
- ¿Las tuyas también, no?
- Yours are too, aren’t they?
For more on Spanish Adjectives, check out this lesson: Spanish Demonstrative Adjectives
Mauricio Evlampieff: Rocket Spanish
Make It Stick With Rocket Reinforcement
Reinforce your learning from this lesson with the Rocket Reinforcement activities!