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5.3: Gramática- Los posesivos

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    171444

    • Erica Brown, Alejandra Escudero, María Cristina Montoya, & Elizabeth Small
    • SUNY Oneonta via OER SUNY
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    Los posesivos

    In this section we’ll learn about possessive adjectives, which are used to describe to whom or to what something belongs. These forms are similar to English, for example: Mi hermana es pelirroja (My sister is a redhead). Both mi/my here indicate that the sister belongs to me. However, in Spanish there are also plural forms if I have more than one of the thing, for example: Mis hermanos son inteligentes (My brothers are intelligent). And there are masculine and feminine forms for nuestro/nuestra (our) and vuestro/vuestra (your – vosotros). Remember when we learned about masculine and feminine nouns and their articles and adjectives? When learning Spanish as a second language, it is important to practice this feature and make sure the nouns and their articles and adjectives are matching.

    Objetivos

    • Recognize possession indicated by possessive adjectives

    Mi familia inmediata

    Juanita Sánchez escribe un párrafo sobre su familia inmediata. Después de leer el texto, contesta las preguntas. (Juanita Sánchez writes a paragraph about her immediate family. After reading her text, answer the questions that follow.)

    Juanita Sánchez
    8.4.2019

    Primero, tengo una familia muy grande. En mi casa, yo vivo con mis padres, mis hermanos y mi abuela. No parece tan grande, pero tengo cinco hermanos. Todos mis hermanos son mayores, y yo soy la hermana menor. Mi hermano mayor se llama Juan y su esposa vive en la casa también. Además, ellos tienen dos hijos, mis sobrinos. Sus hijos se llaman Pablo y Juan. Además, mi familia tiene dos mascotas: nuestro perro, que se llama Ricky y nuestra tortuga, que se llama Margarita. Entre todas las personas en mi familia, mi persona favorita es mi abuela. Ella cocina para todos y su comida es deliciosa. Aunque mi abuela es mi persona favorita, mi familia es muy importante en mi vida. ¿Tienes una persona favorita en tu familia?

    Preguntas de análisis:

    Actividad \(\PageIndex{A}\)

    Text-only version

    Juanita Sánchez
    8.4.2019


    Primero, tengo una familia muy grande. En mi casa, yo vivo con mis padres, mis hermanos y mi abuela. No parece tan grande, pero tengo cinco hermanos. Todos mis hermanos son mayores, y yo soy la hermana menor. Mi hermano mayor se llama Juan y su esposa vive en la casa también. Además, ellos tienen dos hijos, mis sobrinos. Sus hijos se llaman Pablo y Juan. Además, mi familia tiene dos mascotas: nuestro perro, que se llama Ricky y nuestra tortuga, que se llama Margarita. Entre todas las personas en mi familia, mi persona favorita es mi abuela. Ella cocina para todos y su comida es deliciosa. Aunque mi abuela es mi persona favorita, mi familia es muy importante en mi vida. ¿Tienes una persona favorita en tu familia?

    1. Look for the bolded word that means “my”: How many different forms does “my” have? What are the nouns after each reference to “my”?
    2. Look for the bolded word that means “our”: how many different forms does “our” have? What are the nouns after each reference to “our”?
    3. From the text above, what are the meanings of the bolded word “su”? How about “tu”?

    Objetivos

    • Recognize possession indicated by possessive adjectives

    Posesión con ser + de

    There are two ways to indicate possession in Spanish. As you may recall, one way is to use the verb ser in the following pattern: object(s) + ser de + person who has the object(s)

    • El libro es de María. (The book is María’s.)several books, one open
    • El libro de María explica la gramática. (María’s book explains grammar.)
    • Las mochilas son de los muchachos. (The bookbags are the boys’.)
    • La casa es del Sr. Rodríguez. (The house is Mr. Rodríguez’s.)

    Note that the apostrophe+s construction used in English does not exist in Spanish!

    Los adjetivos posesivos

    A more common way to express possession, especially when it is clear to whom something belongs, is to use possessive adjectives:

    singular possessor plural possessor
    mi (my) nuestro (our)
    tu (your) vuestro (your)
    su (his, her, your) su (their, your)

    Remember that in Spanish, tú and usted both mean “you”. Therefore, the possessive adjective for “your” needs to follow the correct register: Tú – tu/tus; Usted – su/sus.

    Atención a la acentuación (Pay attention to accent marks):

    Tú, with the accent mark, is the subject pronoun referring to the person “you”. Tu, without the accent mark, is the possessive adjective “your”. For example: Tú tienes tu libro. (Youhave your book.)

    The chart above, however, only shows the basic form. Possessive adjectives in Spanish—like all adjectives!—must agree in number with the noun that they modify. In the case of nosotros and vosotros, they also must agree in gender with what is owned:

    • mi libro (my book)
    • mis libros (my books)
    • mi familia (my family)
    • mis familias (my families)
    • nuestro libro (our book)
    • nuestros libros (our books)
    • nuestra familia (our family)
    • nuestras familias (our families)
    • tu libro (your book)
    • tus libros(your books)
    • tu casa (your house)
    • tus casas (your houses)
    • vuestro libro (your book)
    • vuestros libros (your books)
    • vuestra casa (your house)
    • vuestras casas (your houses)
    • su libro (his book, her book, or your book)
    • sus libros (his books, her books, or your books)
    • su casa (his house, her house, or your house)
    • sus casas (his houses, her houses, or your houses)
    • su libro (their book or your book)
    • sus libros (their books or your books)
    • su casa (their house or your house)
    • sus casas (their houses or your houses)

    Remember: The adjective will be singular or plural (and feminine or masculine for nosotros and vosotros) based on the object(s) owned, not the person who owns the object. Choose which possessive to use based on the owner, but the ending you give to the possessive does not have anything to do with the number of people who have the object or the gender of the owner. Note that since the 3rd person possessive adjectives could cause some confusion, the use of ser+de is common in these instances for clarification. Context clues can also be used to clarify to whom an object belongs.

    A Practicar

    Contributors and Attributions

    CC licensed content, Original
    • En contexto: Los posesivos. Authored by: SUNY Oneonta with Lumen Learning. Provided by: SUNY Oneonta. License: CC BY: Attribution
    • Indicar posesiu00f3n. Authored by: Deborah M. Edson. Provided by: Tidewater Community College. License: CC BY: Attribution
    CC licensed content, Shared previously
    • Gramu00e1tica: Los posesivos. Authored by: SUNY Oneonta with Lumen Learning. Provided by: SUNY Oneonta. License: CC BY: Attribution

    This page titled 5.3: Gramática- Los posesivos is shared under a CC BY 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Erica Brown, Alejandra Escudero, María Cristina Montoya, & Elizabeth Small (OER SUNY) via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform; a detailed edit history is available upon request.