Possessive adjectives in Spanish

Possessive adjectives

Possessive adjectives show possession. In Spanish, we have different ones for one thing possessed or more than one thing possessed.

One thing possessed

First-person singular: mi (my)

Second-person singular: tu (your, singular)

Third-person singular: su (his / her)

First-person plural: nuestro / nuestra (our)

Second-person plural: vuestro / vuestra (your, plural)

Third-person plural: su (their)

More than one thing possessed

First-person singular: mis (my)

Second-person singular: tus (your, singular)

Third-person singular: sus (his / her)

First-person plural: nuestros / nuestras (our)

Second-person plural: vuestros / vuestras (your, plural)

Third-person plural: sus (their)

Some examples: mi casa, mis carros, sus tíos, nuestras casas, tus abuelos.

Notice how the subject of the sentence is the object or the animal possessed: Mi gato es rojo uses the third person conjugation (él), not the first person conjugation (yo). The subject is the cat, not me.

Full way of expressing possession

When we are not using possessives and saying who the person is, in Spanish we cannot use 's (as in Juan's house). We have to say la casa de Juan (the house of Juan).

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