Possessives in Spanish Grammar
- Possessive agreement in Spanish
- Possessive adjectives in Spanish grammar
- Possessive Pronouns
- Lingolia Plus Spanish
What are possessives in Spanish?
Possessives adjectives and pronouns (los posesivos) indicate possession or belonging.
Possessive adjectives (adjetivos posesivos) have two forms, a short form and a long form. Short-form possessive adjectives come before a noun and long-form possessive adjectives come after a noun.
Possessive pronouns (pronombres posesivos) replace a noun.
Learn how to use Spanish possessive adjectives and pronouns with Lingolia, then practise using them in the exercises.
Example
Acabo de conseguir mi primer trabajo y estoy muy contenta. Todavía vivo con mis padres, pero en nuestra casa tengo mucha libertad.
Por suerte, mi trabajo está muy cerca y puedo ir todos los días en bicicleta. Como la mía está estropeada, mi hermano me ha prestado la suya. Todo sea dicho: su bicicleta es mucho más cómoda.
Mis padres tienen un negocio juntos en el centro de la ciudad y está bastante lejos, así que ellos tienen que ir en su coche cada mañana.
A la vuelta del trabajo, recojo flores del campo para decorar la cocina. Las hortensias son sus flores favoritas.
¿Y tú, tienes la suerte de ir a tu trabajo en bicicleta?
Possessive agreement in Spanish
Spanish has a possessive for each grammatical person (1st, 2nd and 3rd) in both singular and plural and some forms have separate masculine and feminine forms.
Spanish possessives reflect:
- the grammatical person of the possessor (1st, 2nd or 3rd person singular or plural)
- the grammatical gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural) of the noun that is possessed
- Examples:
- Nuestra casa está en el campo. Our house is in the countryside.
- possessor: 1st person plural (mi familia y yo); noun being possessed: feminine singular (casa) = nuestra
- Nuestro coche es eléctrico. Our car is electric.
- possessor: 1st person plural (mi familia y yo); noun being possessed: masculine singular (coche) = nuestro
- Nuestros perros son adoptados. Our dogs are adopted.
- possessor: 1st person plural (mi familia y yo); noun being possessed: masculine plural (perros) = nuestros
Possessive adjectives in Spanish grammar
Possessive adjectives in Spanish grammar have two forms: long and short.
Short possessive adjectives come before a noun and long possessive adjectives come after a noun.
Short possessive adjectives
The short forms of possessive adjectives come before a noun, just like possessive determiners in English grammar (e.g. my, your, his …).
- Examples:
- mi trabajo = my job
- su coche = their car
Like standard adjectives in Spanish, possessive adjectives also agree in gender and number with the noun they modify. (Note: only the 1st and 2nd person plural have separate masculine and feminine forms).
- Examples:
- Acabo de conseguir mi primer trabajo.I just got my first job.
- Su bicicleta es más cómoda.His bike is more comfortable.
- Mis padres tienen un negocio en el centro. My parents have a business in town.
- En nuestra casa tengo mucha libertad.In our house I have a lot of freedom.
Person (possessor) | Singular | Plural |
---|---|---|
1st person singular | mi | mis |
2nd person singular | tu | tus |
3rd person singular | su | sus |
1st person plural | nuestro/-a | nuestros/-as |
2nd person plural | vuestro/-a | vuestros/-as |
3rd person plural | su | sus |
Possessive adjectives: long forms
The long forms of Spanish possessive adjectives come after the noun they modify.
- Example:
- una amiga mía = a friend of mine
We use the long forms when the noun they modify appears together with an article, demonstrative pronoun or adjective.
Long-form possessive adjectives also agree in gender and number with the noun to which they refer.
- Examples:
- Es una amiga mía.She’s a friend of mine.
- Estos amigos nuestros nos recomendaron ese hotel.These friends of ours recommended this hotel.
- Me gusta mucho esa autora. He leído varios libros suyos. I really like this author. I’ve read several books of hers.
Singular | Plural | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Person | Masculine | Feminine | Masculine | Feminine |
1st person singular | mío | mía | míos | mías |
2nd person singular | tuyo | tuya | tuyos | tuyas |
3rd person singular | suyo | suya | suyos | suyas |
1st person plural | nuestro | nuestra | nuestros | nuestras |
2nd person plural | vuestro | vuestra | vuestros | vuestras |
3rd person plural | suyo | suya | suyos | suyas |
Long-from possessive adjectives are used with the verb ser when the noun forms part of the subject of a sentence.
- Examples:
- Esa bicicleta es suya.This watch is mine.
- possessor: 1st person singular (yo); noun being possessed: feminine singular (la bicicleta) = suya
- Los cuadros de la pared son nuestros.The pictures on the wall are ours.
- possessor: 1st person plural (nosotros); noun being possessed: masculine plural (los cuadros) = nuestros
Possessive Pronouns
Possessive pronouns (los pronombres posesivos) replace a previously-mentioned noun, just like English possessive pronouns (mine, yours, his, hers …).
- Example:
- es el mío = it’s mine
Spanish possessive pronouns agree in gender and number with the noun they are replacing and are introduced by the definite article (el, la, los, las).
- Examples:
- Esta no es mi bicicleta, es la suya.It’s not my bike, it’s his.
- Mi bicicleta está rota, ¿puedo usar la tuya?I can’t find my skirt. Can I borrow yours?
Person | Singular | Plural | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Masculine | Feminine | Masculine | Feminine | |
1st person singular | el mío | la mía | los míos | las mías |
2nd person singular | el tuyo | la tuya | los tuyos | las tuyas |
3rd person singular | el suyo | la suya | los suyos | las suyas |
1st person plural | el nuestro | la nuestra | los nuestros | las nuestras |
2nd person plural | el vuestro | la vuestra | los vuestros | las vuestras |
3rd person plural | el suyo | la suya | los suyos | las suyas |