1.3 Possessive Adjectives
Possessive Adjectives
Singular | Plural | In English |
---|---|---|
mi | mis | my |
tu | tus | your (fam.) |
su | sus | his |
su | sus | her |
su | sus | your (formal) |
su | sus | its |
su | sus | their |
nuestro(a) | nuestros(as) | our |
vuestro(a) | vuestros(as) | your (fam; Spain) |
Possessive adjectives appear immediately before a noun and they agree in number with the noun. If the noun that follows is singular, use the singular form of the possessive adjective. If the noun is plural, then a plural possessive adjective must be used.
Singular and Plural Possessive Adjectives
Singular | In English | Plural | In English |
---|---|---|---|
mi libro | my book | mis libros | my books |
tu clase | your class | tus clases | your classes |
su amigo | her friend | sus amigos | her friends |
The “nuestro” and “vuestro” forms will agree with the noun that follows in both number (sg / pl) and gender (m / f). It doesn’t matter who is speaking, or to whom one is speaking; what controls the use of the masculine and feminine forms is whether the noun itself is masculine or feminine.
Nuestro and Vuestro Agreement
Singular | In English | Plural | In English | Nouns |
---|---|---|---|---|
nuestro libro | our book | nuestros libros | our books | libro=m |
nuestra clase | our class | nuestras clases | our classes | clase=f |
vuestro libro | your book | vuestros libros | your books | libro=m |
vuestra clase | your class | vuestras clases | your classes | clase=f |
OJO: “vuestro” (your) and its variances are used in Spain only. In the Spanish of the Americas, “su/sus” (your) is used.
“Su” and “sus” have multiple meanings
Singular | Plural | Possible meanings |
---|---|---|
su | sus | his |
her | ||
your (formal) | ||
its | ||
their |
When the context is clear there generally isn’t any ambiguity. For example, if we have been talking about my friend Lorena’s class schedule and I say “her English class is at nine”, I could simply say “su clase de inglés es a las nueve” and there wouldn’t be any confusion—you would know that “su” refers to Lorena. But without any real context the same phrase “su clase de inglés es a las nueve” could have several meanings: “his-her-your (formal)-their…class”. If you want to avoid possible confusion, use the following structure:
To clarify ambiguity of “su/sus”:
article: the | + | noun | + | of | + | pronoun |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
el, la, los, las | + | X | + | de | + | él, la, Ud., ellos, ellas, Uds. |
Clarifying “su/sus” examples:
If context is clear: | To avoid any ambiguity: | English meaning is the same for both: |
---|---|---|
su libro | el libro de ella | her book |
sus libros | los libros de ella | her books |
su profesor | el profesor de Ud. | your professor |
sus profesores | los profesores de Ud. | your professors |
su clase | la clase de ellos | their class |
sus clases | las clases de ellos | their classes |
OJO: In English, we use an apostrophe ‘s’ to show possession (John’s class), but apostrophes do not exist in Spanish. Spanish does the following instead:
Equivalent of ‘s
article: the | + | noun | + | of | + | person |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
la | + | clase | + | de | + | John = John's class |
More examples:
Los estudiantes de la profesora | The professor's students |
Las classes de Susana | Susana's classes |
El libro de mi amigo | My friend's book |
A final note: when talking directly to one person and addressing him or her in the Ud. form, you could use “su/sus” to express “your”. But notice that the same forms in Spanish are used if you want to express ‘your’ and are addressing a group of people. Again, the singular/plural agreement occurs between “su” and the noun that follows it:
“Su” and “sus” meaning “your” examples:
su clase | your class | talking to 1 person - Ud. |
sus clases | your classes | talking to 1 person - Ud. |
su clase | your class | talking to a group - Uds. (the group has just 1 class) |
sus clases | your classes | talking to a group - Uds. (the group has 2 or more) |
“Possessive adjectives” in First Year Spanish 1 by Paul Eckhardt is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.