Spanish 2.5. Possessive Adjectives & Pronouns

In this lesson, we cover possessive adjectives and pronouns in Spanish.

Possessive adjectives (my, your, his/her, our, their) come before a noun, e.g., “This is my house.” On the other hand, possessive pronouns (mine, yours, his/hers, ours, theirs) replace the noun and its possessive adjective, e.g., “This house is mine.”

In Spanish, possessive adjectives and pronouns must agree in gender and number with the noun they describe. Fortunately, only “nosotros/-as” and “vosotros/-as” have distinct masculine and feminine possessive adjective forms.

Possessive Adjectives

The possessive adjectives in Spanish are:

 SingularPlural
mymimis
your (informal singular)tutus
his/her/your (formal singular)susus
ournuestro/-anuestros/-as
your (informal plural)vuestro/-avuestros/-as
their/your (formal plural)susus

Note that, unlike in English, the possessive adjective agrees in number and gender with the noun it describes and not the subject, e.g., “mis hermanos” (my brothers). Note that we use “mis” because the noun we describe is plural, although the subject is singular. Similarly, in the example “nuestras madres” (our mothers), the possessive adjective “nuestras” agrees in gender and number with the noun it describes, i.e., “madres.”

Notice the lack of accent on the vowel in the possessive adjectives “mi” and “tu” to distinguish them from the prepositional object pronoun “” meaning “me, and the subject pronoun for second-person singular informal “” meaning “you, respectively. This is inconsequential in spoken Spanish and does not affect pronunciation.

The possessive adjective can come after the noun if we want to place the emphasis on the possessor. For example, “un amigo mío” (a friend of mine), “la casa tuya” (your house), etc.

Possessive Pronouns

Let us now examine the possessive pronouns in Spanish. Unlike possessive adjectives, all possessive pronouns have masculine and feminine forms as well as singular and plural forms. One must use the correct form that agrees in gender and number with the noun.

 Masc. Sing.Masc. PluralFem. Sing.Fem. Plural
minemíomíosmíamías
yours (informal singular)tuyotuyostuyatuyas
his/hers/yours (formal singular)suyosuyossuyasuyas
oursnuestronuestrosnuestranuestras
yours (informal plural)vuestrovuestrosvuestravuestras
theirs/yours (formal plural)suyosuyossuyasuyas

Possessive pronouns are normally preceded with a definite article “el, la, los, or las” that agrees in gender and number with the possessive pronoun. For example, “Tu celular es mejor que el mío” (Your cell phone is better than mine), “Esa casa es la nuestra” (That house is ours). The only exception is after the verb “ser,” where it is optional and can be dropped. For example, “No es tuyo, es mío” (It is not yours, it’s mine), “Esa casa es nuestra” (That house is ours).

In another special case, the possessive pronoun can be preceded by the neuter article “lo” to denote property. For example, “lo mío” (that which is mine), “lo nuestro” (that which is ours), “lo suyo/lo propio” (one’s own property), “lo ajeno” (that which belongs to others).

Quiz: Possessive Pronouns & Adjectives in Spanish

Spanish: Possessive Pronouns & Adjectives

1 / 30

1. our parents

SP: padres

Accented letters (if needed):

á é í ó ú ñ ü

2 / 30

2. their brother

SP: hermano

Accented letters (if needed):

á é í ó ú ñ ü

3 / 30

3. our students

SP: estudiantesm

Accented letters (if needed):

á é í ó ú ñ ü

4 / 30

4. his old aunt

SP: vieja tia

Accented letters (if needed):

á é í ó ú ñ ü

5 / 30

5. our family

SP: familia

Accented letters (if needed):

á é í ó ú ñ ü

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6. a friend of mine (emphasis form)  

SP: un amigo

Accented letters (if needed):

á é í ó ú ñ ü

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7. his brother

SP: hermano

Accented letters (if needed):

á é í ó ú ñ ü

8 / 30

8. my houses

SP: casas

Accented letters (if needed):

á é í ó ú ñ ü

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9. That house is ours.

SP: Essa casa es

Accented letters (if needed):

á é í ó ú ñ ü

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10. our families

SP: familias

Accented letters (if needed):

á é í ó ú ñ ü

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11. my cabinet

SP: gabinetem

Accented letters (if needed):

á é í ó ú ñ ü

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12. that which is ours (use neuter article)

SP:

Accented letters (if needed):

á é í ó ú ñ ü

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13. my house

SP: casa

Accented letters (if needed):

á é í ó ú ñ ü

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14. his brothers

SP: hermanos

Accented letters (if needed):

á é í ó ú ñ ü

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15. his mother

SP: madre

Accented letters (if needed):

á é í ó ú ñ ü

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16. my sister

SP: hermana

Accented letters (if needed):

á é í ó ú ñ ü

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17. my parents

SP: padres

Accented letters (if needed):

á é í ó ú ñ ü

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18. her aunts

SP: tías

Accented letters (if needed):

á é í ó ú ñ ü

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19. her houses

SP: casas

Accented letters (if needed):

á é í ó ú ñ ü

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20. her sister

SP: hermana

Accented letters (if needed):

á é í ó ú ñ ü

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21. her parents

SP: padres

Accented letters (if needed):

á é í ó ú ñ ü

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22. my mother

SP: madre

Accented letters (if needed):

á é í ó ú ñ ü

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23. My house is larger than yours. (informal singular "you") 

SP: Mi casa es mas grande que .

Accented letters (if needed):

á é í ó ú ñ ü

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24. Your phone is better than mine .  

SP: Tu teléfono es mejor que .

Accented letters (if needed):

á é í ó ú ñ ü

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25. That house is theirs.

SP: Essa casa es

Accented letters (if needed):

á é í ó ú ñ ü

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26. his own hands

SP: sus manos

Accented letters (if needed):

á é í ó ú ñ ü

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27. their house

SP: casa

Accented letters (if needed):

á é í ó ú ñ ü

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28. my brother

SP: hermano

Accented letters (if needed):

á é í ó ú ñ ü

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29. his clock

SP: relojm

Accented letters (if needed):

á é í ó ú ñ ü

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30. your own problem

SP: tu problema

Accented letters (if needed):

á é í ó ú ñ ü

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