40 Capítulo 4: Sección 6: Los adjetivos posesivos
Section Goal
In this section, students will learn how to express possession by using possessive adjectives in context.
Los adjetivos posesivos
Lo mío es tuyo y lo tuyo es mío (What’s yours is mine and what’s mine is yours)
¿Qué piensas? ¿Te gusta compartir? Mi libro… tu libro…
Mi hamburguesa… tu hamburguesa… Mi casa… tu casa…
Mi novia… tu novia… Mi carro… tu carro….
The use of these adjectives is similar between English and Spanish, with the exception that Spanish has plural forms, but English doesn’t.
Possessive adjectives, like descriptive adjectives, are used to qualify people, places, or things. Possessive adjectives express the quality of ownership or possession. Possessive adjectives have to agree in gender and number with the noun.
There are two types of possessive adjectives: one type goes before the noun, and the other type goes after the noun.
| Singular Possessive Adjectives | Plural Possessive Adjectives | Possessive Adjectives in English |
| mi | mis | my |
| tu | tus | your (fam.) |
| su | sus | his |
| su | sus | her |
| su | sus | your (formal) |
| su | sus | its |
| su | sus | their |
| nuestro(a) | nuestros(as) | our |
| vuestro(a) | vuestros(as) | your (fam., Spain) |
Possessive adjectives appear immediately before a noun and they agree in number with the noun. If the noun that follows is singular, use the singular form of the possessive adjective. If the noun is plural, then a plural possessive adjective must be used.
Singular and Plural Possessive Adjectives
| Singular | In English | Plural | In English |
| mi libro | my book | mis libros | my books |
| tu clase | your class | tus clases | your classes |
| su amigo | her friend | sus amigos | her friends |
The nuestro and vuestro forms will agree with the noun that follows in both number (sing./pl.) and gender (m./f.). It doesn’t matter who is speaking or to whom one is speaking; what controls the use of the masculine and feminine forms is whether the noun itself is masculine or feminine.
Nuestro and vuestro agreement
| Singular | In English | Plural | In English | Nouns |
| nuestro libro | our book | nuestros libros | our books | libro = m |
| nuestra clase | our class | nuestras clases | our classes | clase = f |
| vuestro libro | your book | vuestros libros | your books | libro = m |
| vuestra clase | your class | vuestras clases | your classes | clase = f |
OJO: Vuestro (your) and its variances are used in Spain only. In the Spanish of the Americas, su/sus (your) is used.
Su and sus have multiple meanings
| Singular | Plural | Possible meanings |
|
su |
sus |
his |
|
her |
||
|
your (formal) |
||
|
its |
||
|
their |
When the context is clear, there generally isn’t any ambiguity. For example, if we have been talking about my friend Lorena’s class schedule and I want to say “Her English class is at nine”, I could simply say “Su clase de inglés es a las nueve” and there wouldn’t be any confusion—you would know that su refers to Lorena. But without any real context, the same phrase, “Su clase de inglés es a las nueve”, could have several meanings: “His / her / your (formal) / their…class”. If you want to avoid possible confusion, use the following structure.
To clarify the ambiguity of su/sus
|
article: the |
+ |
noun |
+ |
of |
+ |
pronoun |
|
el, la, los, las |
+ |
X |
+ |
de |
+ |
él, la, Ud., ellos, ellas, Uds. |
Clarifying su/sus examples
|
If the context is clear: |
To avoid any ambiguity: |
English meaning is the same for both: |
|
su libro |
el libro de ella |
her book |
|
sus libros |
los libros de ella |
her books |
|
su profesor |
el profesor de Ud. |
your professor |
|
sus profesores |
los profesores de Ud. |
your professors |
|
su clase |
la clase de ellos |
their class |
|
sus clases |
las clases de ellos |
their classes |
Equivalent of ’s
OJO: In English, we use an apostrophe “s” to show possession (John’s class), but apostrophes do not exist in Spanish. Spanish does the following instead:
|
article: the |
+ |
noun |
+ |
of |
+ |
person |
|
la |
+ |
clase |
+ |
de |
+ |
John = John’s class |
More examples:
|
Los estudiantes de la profesora |
The professor’s students |
|
Las classes de Susana |
Susana’s classes |
|
El libro de mi amigo |
My friend’s book |
A final note: When talking directly to one person and addressing him or her in the Ud. form, you could use “su/sus” to express “your”. But notice that the same forms in Spanish are used if you want to express “your” and are addressing a group of people. Again, the singular/plural agreement occurs between “su” and the noun that follows it.
Su and sus meaning “your” examples
|
su clase |
your class |
talking to 1 person- Ud. |
|
sus clases |
your classes |
talking to 1 person- Ud. |
|
su clase |
your class |
talking to a group- Uds. (the group has just 1 class) |
|
sus clases |
your classes |
talking to a group- Uds. (the group has 2 or more classes) |
Actividad 27.
Actividad 28. Las posesiones de las personas
Instructions: State what each person below has using the verb tener and the appropriate possessive pronoun.
- Modelo: Samuel
- Samuel tiene su lápiz.
- Tu y yo ________________________
“Person holding Pen” by Unknown Author is licensed under CC-BY-NC 4.0 - Él __________________________________
- Mi amigo _____________________________
- Tú _____________________________
- Esteban y Juana _____________________________________
- Yo ______________________________________
Actividad 29. Nuevos encuentros
Instructions: Think of at least four questions using possessive pronouns that you would ask a new roommate when meeting them for the first time. Ask your partner these questions, and write down their answers using appropriate possessives. Each of you will take turns doing this. Then, pretend you are meeting a new professor for the first time, and repeat the process. Make sure you use the appropriate possessive adjectives! Be prepared to share your partner’s answers with the class.
Modelo: (speaking to new roommate): ¿Cuál es tu número de teléfono?
Vocabulario útil: dirección electrónica, número de teléfono, clase favorita, actor favorito, autor favorito, familia
- ________________________________________________________
- ________________________________________________________
- ________________________________________________________
- ________________________________________________________
[2].
Actividad 30.
- The Possessive Adjectives section is a minor adaptation of "First Year Spanish 1: Possessive adjectives" from First Year Spanish 1 Copyright © 2019 by Paul Eckhardt and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. ↵
- Actividades are minor adaptations of content from "Capítulo 3: ¿Cuándo vas a tus clases?" in ¡Bienvenidos! Spanish Language Textbook by Julia Farmer, Jeff Zamostny, Laura Hill and Stephanie Henderson Hollenbeck and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. ↵
- From "Capítulo 3: ¿Cuándo vas a tus clases?: Actividad 3. New encounters" in ¡Bienvenidos! Spanish Language Textbook by Julia Farmer, Jeff Zamostny, Laura Hill and Stephanie Henderson Hollenbeck and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. ↵
