21 Possessive adjectives
In Brief:
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
| Singular | Plural | 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 (sg / 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 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 ambiguity of “su/sus”:
To clarify 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 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 |
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:
Equivalent of ’s
| 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) |