Think about a world the place you couldn’t speak about what’s mine, yours, ours, or theirs. It will be exhausting, proper?
This is the reason possessive adjectives are so necessary, and it’s no completely different in Spanish!
Spanish has just a few extra types of possessive adjectives than English, so brush up on your Spanish pronouns and genders and we are able to get began!
On this publish, I’ll share every thing it is advisable to know concerning the alternative ways to precise possession in Spanish. Then you definately’ll get to quiz your self to see how a lot you’ve realized!
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What Are Possessive Adjectives?
Possessive adjectives, because the identify suggests, are adjectives that are used to present who has possession of one thing.
The phrases “my,” “your,” “our,” “their,” and so on. are all English possessive adjectives that present who one thing belongs to:
The place are my keys?
Let’s go to their home
Spanish possessive adjectives work equally, with just a few key variations in how they’re fashioned.
It’s necessary that you just take note of the gender and the variety of the factor being owned so that you just use the right adjective.
Brief-form Spanish Possessive Adjectives
Listed here are the completely different Spanish possessive adjectives. Observe that to make a singular adjective plural, you merely add s.
As you’ll be able to see within the desk, mi and tu as possessive adjectives don’t have accent marks. In the event you add accent marks to those adjectives, you’d find yourself with completely different phrases: mí which suggests “for me,” and tú which suggests “you.”
Each nuestro and vuestro change based mostly on the gender of the factor we personal. It’s necessary to notice that this has nothing to do with our genders, that’s, the gender identities of the people who find themselves proudly owning one thing.
Nuestro teléfono — Our phone
Vuestra casa — Your home
Mi, tu and su don’t change for gender, so “his,” “her,” “their,” formal “your” and “its” are all the identical phrase in Spanish: su.
Additionally keep in mind that these plural possessive adjectives are used for when a number of issues are owned, not when a number of individuals personal one thing.
Instance Sentences
Listed here are some examples of how these short-form possessive adjectives are used, conserving in thoughts that they all the time come earlier than a noun.
Mi familia vive en los Estados Unidos. — My household lives in america.
Me gusta tu camisa. — I like your shirt.
¿Cuál es su dirección? — What’s your deal with?
Nuestro hijo es alto. — Our son is tall.
¿Cuál es el nombre de vuestro gato? — What’s your cat’s identify?
Estos son mis libros. — These are my books.
¿Dónde viven tus hermanos? — The place do your siblings stay?
Sus clases son muy interesantes. — Your courses are very fascinating.
¿Dónde están nuestras cartas? — The place are our playing cards?
Vuestros zapatos están afuera. — Your sneakers are exterior.
Lengthy-form Spanish Possessive Adjectives
Lengthy-form Spanish possessive adjectives are, for probably the most half, reserved for issues like older literature, poems, or songs.
Nobody makes use of this manner in on a regular basis speech these days—aside from sentences about sure relationships, that are equal to the “[relationship] of [possessive]” construction in English, in addition to in another, very particular instances. For instance:
Un amigo mío vive aquí. — A good friend of mine lives right here.
¡Madre mía! — Good heavens! (actually “Mom of mine!”)
Amigo mío, fue un placer verte. — My expensive good friend (actually “good friend of mine“), it was a pleasure to see you.
However for the sake of completeness, we’re going to share them with you anyway.
In contrast to short-form possessive adjectives, long-form possessive adjectives are used after nouns. They modify in accordance with the gender and variety of the factor being possessed, as follows:
Instance Sentences
Puedes usar un abrigo mío. — You should utilize a coat of mine.
Una amiga tuya llamó esta mañana. — A good friend of yours referred to as this morning.
Leí un libro suyo el año pasado. — I learn a guide of yours final 12 months.
¿Viste una bicicleta nuestra por aquí? — Did you see a motorbike of ours round right here?
¿Dónde están esos hijos vuestros? — The place are these youngsters of yours?
Son amigas mías del colegio. — They’re associates of mine from highschool.
Las llaves tuyas están en la mesa. — Your keys are on the desk. (Actually: The keys of yours are on the desk.)
Conocí a unos colegas suyos. — I met some colleagues of yours.
Esas chicas son primas nuestras. — These ladies are cousins of ours.
Pongan esos cuadernos vuestros en el escritorio. — Put these notebooks of yours on the desk.
Notes on Spanish Possessive Adjectives
When to Keep away from Possessive Adjectives
The commonest errors made by English audio system with Spanish possessive adjectives truly contain utilizing them an excessive amount of!
Listed here are some conditions not to make use of possessive adjectives:
- When you may have a reflexive verb. If the motion in query is already “going again” onto the topic (as with a reflexive verb) you don’t want a possessive adjective.
Me lavo las manos. — I’m washing my fingers. (Actually: I’m washing myself the fingers.)
- When speaking about physique elements. Don’t use possessive adjectives in case you’re speaking about elements of the physique. As a substitute, use the particular article.
Se rompió la pierna. — She broke her leg. (Actually: she broke herself the leg.)
- If it’s not adopted by a noun. On this case, you in all probability want a possessive pronoun as a substitute.
¡Todo lo que ves aquí es mío! — Every thing you see right here is mine!
- If possession is clear. If it’s clear what (or who) belongs to who, there’s no want for a possessive adjective. For instance in case you’ve already talked about that one thing belongs to you, or it will possibly simply be assumed from the context.
Voy a ir al resort. — I’m going to go to my resort. (Actually: I’m going to go to the resort.)
Repeating Possessive Adjectives
In Spanish you usually repeat the possessive adjectives when speaking about a couple of object that’s owned—in distinction to in English, the place one possessive adjective is normally sufficient.
Son mis lápices y mis cuadernos. — They’re my pencils and my notebooks.
The exception to that is whenever you’re utilizing two nouns to explain the identical precise factor.
Es mi amante y mejor amigo. — He’s my lover and greatest good friend. (speaking a couple of single wonderful one that fulfills these two capabilities)
Possessive Adjectives vs. Possessive Pronouns
It may be fairly simple to get blended up between possessive adjectives and possessive pronouns in Spanish.
The best technique to bear in mind the distinction is to acknowledge that possessive adjectives describe nouns, whereas pronouns utterly change them.
For instance:
Mi gato es negro. — My cat is black.
El gato negro es mío. — The black cat is mine.
Observe that the primary sentence makes use of a possessive adjective (my cat) and the second sentence makes use of a possessive pronoun (the cat is mine).
If you wish to know extra about possessive pronouns, take a look at this publish.
Displaying Possession in Different Methods
Though possessive adjectives are in all probability probably the most simple technique to exhibit possession, they don’t seem to be the one means that you are able to do this.
Displaying Possession with Possessive Pronouns
As we already touched on, we are able to use possessive pronouns to point out possession.
Observe that the possessive pronouns are the identical because the long-form possessive adjectives and have comparable meanings.
Possessive pronoun: Ese perro es mío. — That canine is mine.
Lengthy-form pronoun: Es un amigo nuestro. — He’s a good friend of ours.
Displaying Possession with De
One other means we are able to specific possession is with the preposition de, which suggests “of,” however will be positioned after a noun to specific possession.
This particularly is useful the place we’d normally use su, as it may be troublesome to find out who precisely that phrase is speaking about.
Listed here are some examples:
Es el artículo de Roberta. — It’s Roberta’s article.
Es el artículo de ella. — It’s her article.
Es el artículo de ustedes. — It’s your article.
If you wish to see how possessive adjectives are used, you’ll be able to attempt exposing your self to Spanish dialog or media to observe how natives incorporate this ingredient into their speech.
FluentU is a superb useful resource for this as this system makes use of native video clips from motion pictures, TV reveals, and so on. to point out you ways Spanish talking natives exhibit possession. 
You’ll even discover instruments like flashcards, interactive subtitles and flashcards to spice up your studying. This system is obtainable on each iOS and Android.
Spanish Possessive Adjective Quiz
Now right here’s your probability to place every thing we’ve realized into observe!
Fill within the blanks with the proper Spanish possessive adjective, in accordance with who’s in possession and what they’re in possession of—i.e. the quantity (and in some instances, gender) of the article.
1. ¿Quieres venir a ___ casa en la tarde? (Do you need to come to my home within the afternoon?)
2. Él ama mucho a ___ novio. (He loves his boyfriend rather a lot.)
3. No es ___ problema. (It’s not our drawback.)
4. Usted debe llamar a ___ jefe. (You need to name her boss.)
5. ¿Qué pasó con ___ (casual) solicitud? (What occurred with your software?)
6. No entiendo ___ (formal) acciones. (I don’t perceive your actions.)
7. Extraño a ___ hijas. (I miss our daughters.)
8. ¿Has visto ___ lentes? (Have you ever seen my glasses?)
9. Confío en ___ (casual) palabras. (I belief your phrases.)
10. Me caen bien ___ amigos. (I like her associates.)
Solutions:
1. ¿Quieres venir a mi casa en la tarde?
2. Él ama mucho a su novio.
3. No es nuestro problema. (Keep in mind that problema is masculine!)
4. Usted debe llamar a su jefe.
5. ¿Qué pasó con tu solicitud?
6. No entiendo sus acciones.
7. Extraño a nuestras hijas.
8. ¿Has visto mis lentes?
9. Confío en tus palabras.
10. Me caen bien sus amigos.
I’m guessing you are feeling possessive over just a few issues in your life as properly; now it’s best to have the vocabulary to say so!
Obtain:
This weblog publish is on the market as a handy and transportable PDF that you just
can take wherever.
Click on right here to get a replica. (Obtain)
