Possessive Adjectives - Grammar Lessons - Lawless Spanish

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Adjetivos posesivos

Spanish possessive adjectives are used in front of nouns to indicate to whom or to what those nouns belong. They are considerably more complicated than English possessive adjectives because Spanish has several different forms depending on the gender and number of the possessed noun.

Por ejemplo…

Estamos escuchando mi música.	We’re listening to my music.
He perdido mis llaves.	I lost my keys.

Characteristics of Spanish possessive adjectives

1. Used in place of an article, not with one
2. Placed directly in front of a noun or an adjective + noun
3. Must agree with the possessed noun in number and sometimes gender
4. Possessive adjective + noun can be replaced by a possessive pronoun
5. Come in two different sets: short/unstressed forms (explained here) and long / stressed forms.

Short forms of Spanish possessive adjectives

Singular		Plural
masc	fem	masc	fem
my	mi	mi	mis	mis
your (tú)	tu	tu	tus	tus
his, her, your (Ud.)	su	su	sus	sus
our	nuestro	nuestra	nuestros	nuestras
your (vosotros)	vuestro	vuestra	vuestros	vuestras
			sus	sus
their, your (Uds.)	su	su

Spanish has many more possessives than English. For 2nd and 3rd person plural subjects (nosotros, vosotros), there are four forms of the possessive. The gender and number of the possessed noun determine which form to use.

Our	Your
masc sing	nuestro libro	vuestro libro
fem sing	nuestra mesa	vuestra mesas
masc plural	nuestros libros	vuestros libros
fem plural	nuestras mesas	vuestras mesas

Singular subjects (I, you, he) and third person plural (they) have only two forms: singular and plural.

My	Your	His / Her / Their
sing	mi libro	tu libro	su libro
plural	mis mesas	tus mesas	sus mesas

 An important difference between Spanish and English is in the third person. In English you have to choose between his, her, its, and their, whereas in Spanish there is no distinction by gender, only by number. Su and sus can each mean his, her, its, your, or their depending on the context. Su cama can mean his bed, her bed, its bed (e.g., the dog’s), your bed, or their bed. To clarify, you can use the possessive de.

Por ejemplo …

Tengo su libro. ¿De quién? El libro de Ana.

When describing two or more nouns, a possessive adjective must be used in front of each one.

Por ejemplo …

his brother and sister

su hermano y su hermana

 Possessive Adjectives Quizzes

Think you’ve got it? Test yourself on Spanish possessive adjectives:

• Micro kwiz
• La comunidad Wichi*

* Note: You must be logged into your Progress with Lawless Spanish account to take this test. If you don’t have one, sign up – it’s free!

Related lessons

• Possessive de
• Long possessive forms
• Spanish possession
• Adjectives

En français

• Adjectifs possessifs

In italiano

• Aggettivi possessivi

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