Possessive Adjectives in Spanish

In both Spanish and English, possessive adjectives show belonging or ownership. They can also indicate a relationship between people.

Because these are adjectives they must agree with the nouns they modify in terms of number and gender.

Here are the possessive adjectives

SingularPlural
1st
Person
2nd
Person
3rd
Person
my
mi, mis
our
nuestro, nuestra, nuestros, nuestras
your (informal, singular)
tu, tus
your (informal, plural - Spain)
vuestro, vuestra, vuestros, vuestras
his / her /
your (formal, singular)
su, sus
their /
your (informal or formal, plural)
su, sus

Notice that mi, tu, and suchange to agree with the noun they modify in gender only (by adding an "s"). Nuestro and vuestro change in both number and gender (by changing -o to -a and/or by adding an "s"). Careful - you select the correct possessive adjective based on who owns the item, but the possessive adjective changes to agree with the item. This means that you would say "his dog" and "her dog" in the same way: superro.

Here are some examples:
Es nuestro padre. [He is our father.]
Es nuestramadre. [She is our mother.]
Son nuestrosniños. [They are our children.]
Son nuestrasprimas. [They are our {female} cousins.]

Notice that su, and sus can mean either "his," "her," "its," "your" or "their." This is sometimes confusing, so it is also possible to use a prepositional phrase to make it more clear.

Me gustasucoche. [I like his/her/your/their car.]
Me gusta la coche de él. [I like his car.]
Me gusta la coche de ella. [I like her car.]
Me gusta la coche de usted. [I like your car.]
Me gusta la coche de ellos. [I like their car.]

Related Links:
Identifying the possessive adjectives/identificando los adjetivos posesivos Quiz
The Spanish Adjectives/Los adjetivos Quiz
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