Possessive Pronouns Clyne 2014

Possessive Pronouns Since you’ve already learned the possessive adjectives, you already (mostly) know the possessive pronouns of Spanish.

A quick refresher What are the possessive adjectives? mi/mis tu/tus su/sus nuestro(s)/nuestra(s) These are adjectives so they are used with a noun after them…

Possessive pronouns are the equivalent of the English pronouns : “mine”, “yours”, “his”, “theirs”’ and “its”, and “ours” **But they are not used in exactly the same way in Spanish as they are in English.

The Possessive Pronouns PronounTranslation mío, mía, míos, míasmine tuyo, tuya, tuyos, tuyasyours (familiar, to a friend) suyo, suya, suyos, suyashis, hers, yours (singular or plural form) its, theirs nuestro, nuestra, nuestros, nuestrasours In Spain you would see these pronouns: vuestro, vuestra, vuestros, vuestrasyours (plural informal)

Usage examples Tu madre y la mía no pueden cantar. ◦ Your mother and mine can’t sing. No me gustan los coches rojos. El mío es verde. ◦ I don’t like red cars. Mine is green. Este libro no es mío. Es tuyo. ◦ This book isn’t mine. It’s yours. ¿Dónde está mi mochila? La tuya está aquí. ◦ Where’s my backpack? Yours is here.

More usage examples: Mis calcetines son rojos. Los suyos son negros. ◦ My socks are red. His/hers/yours/theirs are black. Este coche es nuestro. ◦ This car is ours. ¿Te gusta tu casa? No me gusta la nuestra. ◦ Do you like your house? I don’t like ours.

Take note… As you can see from the examples, possessive pronouns must match the noun they represent in both number and gender, just as the possessive adjectives do.

Definite articles Note that unlike the equivalent pronouns in English, the Spanish possessive pronouns are usually preceded by the definite article (el, la, los or las), the equivalent of the “the”. La suya El mío Las mías

The article is usually dispensed with when the possessive pronoun follows a form of the verb ser, such as son or es, as in the examples, although it can be kept for emphasis. Este coche es nuestro. ◦ This car is ours.

Easy, right? ¿Preguntas?