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3.4: Los adjetivos posesivos

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    Possessive Adjectives

    Possessive adjectives agree with the nouns they modify. That is, they agree with what is possessed, not the possessor.

    The singular and plural endings are noted in bold in the following examples:

    • Mi cuaderno (my notebook)
    • Tus cuadernos (your notebooks)
    • su silla (your/his/her/their chair)
    • sus sillas (your/his/her/their chairs)

    Possessive Adjectives

    Possessive Adjectives
    Before singular nouns Before plural nouns English
    mi mis my
    tu tus your (singular, familiar)
    su sus your (singular, formal), his, her
    nuestro, nuestra nuestros, nuestras our
    vuestro, vuestra vuestros, vuestras your (plural, familiar)
    su sus your (plural, formal), their (masculine, feminine)

    Notice that possessive adjectives—nuestro, nuestra, nuestros, nuestras and vuestro, vuestra, vuestros, vuestras—not only agree in number but also change to match the gender (masculine or feminine) of the noun they modify.

    In the following examples, the masculine and feminine endings are noted in bold.

    Gender and Number Agreement of Possessive Adjectives
    Gender and Number Agreement Spanish Masculine English Spanish Feminine English
    Spanish Singular nuestro libro our book vuestra casa your house
    Spanish Plural nuestros libros our books vuestras casas your houses

    Phrases with "de"

    Unlike English, Spanish does not use the "apostrophe + s" construction to indicate possession. Instead, possession is expressed using the following structure:

    article + noun + de + subject pronoun or noun.

    Use of "de" to Express Possession
    English: Spanish:
    María's mom La + madre + de + María
    Pedro's cousins Los primos de Pedro

    Since the possessive adjective "su" and "sus" can refer to several owners (usted, él, ella, ustedes, ellos, ellas), the phrase "article + noun + de + subject pronoun" is often used to avoid confusion on who the owner is. Observe the difference between the following two sentences:

    1. Owner not specified:
      • Su casa es bonita. ("Su" could mean his, her, formal singular "your", plural "your," or their)
    2. Owner specified:
      • La casa de ella es bonita.
      • La casa de ustedes es muy bonita.
      • La casa de usted es muy bonita.
      • La casa de ellos es muy bonita.
      • La casa de ella es muy bonita.
      • La casa de él es muy bonita.

    On the examples for "owner specified" above, any of the subject pronouns in bold can be used.

    As you learned previously, when the preposition "de" precedes the article "el", they contract to "del". Note that it does not form a contraction with the subject pronoun "él" as it is not an article.

    The formula "ser + de + subject pronoun or noun" is normally used to express possession:

    • La casa grande es de Vanessa y Carlos.
    • El cuaderno es de él.
    • La calculadora es de Ud.
    • Los diccionarios son de las chicas.

    The examples above use bold to highlight the use of the formula "ser + de + subject pronoun or noun".

    This page titled 3.4: Los adjetivos posesivos is shared under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Sara Jacome-Thompson, Evergreen Valley College (ASCCC Open Educational Resources Initiative) .