3.3.0: Gramática
Expressing Possession
There are several ways to express possession in Spanish.
1. Possession with de
In English, we express possession by using an apostrophe (’) + the letter “s” (e.g., Dylan’s blog ). But what happens in Spanish? Have a look at these examples from Dylan’s blog:
- La familia de Mariana
- La familia lejana de Mariana
As you can see in these examples, in Spanish we show possession by using the preposition de + the name of the person or thing to whom/which something belongs .
Also notice that there is a change in word order. In English, the person whose possessions we are talking about comes first, followed by the object they possess (e.g., Dylan’s family ).
This is reversed in Spanish: The object comes first, and it is followed by de , and the person or thing whose possessions we are talking about (e.g., la familia de Mariana ).
Object + de + owner (the person or thing whose possessions we are talking about)
- Modelo: La mochila de Ramón ( Ramon´s backpack )
In the examples above we used people’s names, but if we have the article el before the person/thing whose possessions we are talking about, we must combine de and el to form del .
Modelo:
- El libro del [de + el] estudiante
- La computadora del profesor
Note that the articles la , las , and los are not combined with de .
Modelo:
- El libro de la profesora
- Las computadoras de las niñas
- La clase de los estudiantes
2. Using adjectives to express possession
In Dylan’s blog, we can also notice possession can be expressed with possessive adjectives. What are these words? Have a look at these examples:
Modelo:
- Mi familia mexicana
- Su tío .
Words like mi ( my ) and su ( her ) are possessive adjectives. We have them in English too, but in Spanish they work in a slightly different way. First, let’s have a look at them. What do you notice that is different from English?
| Adjetivo posesivo | English |
|---|---|
| mi(s) | my |
| tu(s) | your |
| su(s) | his/her/your (formal) |
| nuestro/a(s) | our |
| vuestro/a(s) | your (plural; Spain) |
| su(s) | their / your (plural) |
As you can see, possessive adjectives in Spanish have plural and singular forms. This is different from English. Why is this the case? Well, in Spanish, all possessive adjectives agree in number (singular or plural) with the object being possessed ( NOT with the person whose possession we are talking about).
Also notice that nuestro/a(s) and vuestro/a(s) have gender, which means that their form will agree in both gender and number with the noun they’re referring to. Have a look at these examples:
Modelo:
- Carlos busca su libro / sus libros .
- Mis profesoras son muy amables.
- Nuestra aula es muy cómoda. vs. Nuestras aulas son muy cómodas.
- Los hijos de Carmen estudian en Tejas. Sus hijos son muy inteligentes.
- Gabriela, ¿tú hablas por teléfono con tu madre/tus padres todos los días?
Key concepts: Possessive Adjectives
-
All possessive adjectives agree
with the object being possessed
(
NOT
with the person whose possession we are talking about)
- All possessive adjectives agree in number (singular or plural)
- Nuestro/a(s) and vuestro/a(s) must also agree in gender (masculine or feminine)