Possessive Adjectives

1. Possessive Adjectives

2. Possessive adjectives in English are as follows: my our your your his, her, their its

3. Possessive adjectives in Spanish: mi nuestro tu vuestro su su Because these are possessive adjectives, they change just like all other adjectives: mi casa, mis casasnuestro libro, nuestros libros, nuestra casa, nuestras casas tu casa, tus casasvuestro libro, vuestros libros, vuestra casa, vuestras casas su casa, sus casas su casa, sus casas Mi, tu, and su have just singular and plural forms, because they don’t end with an –o. Nuestro and vuestro, which do end with an –o, have four forms: masculine singular, feminine singular, masculine plural, feminine plural.

4. mi nuestro tu vuestro su su You may be bothered by the fact that “su” is in two places. “Su” can mean “his,” “her,” “its,” “their,” or “your.” “Sus” can mean “his,” “her,” “its,” “their,” or “your.” You use “su” when the noun is singular: su libro = his book, her book, your book, their book sus libros = his books, her books, your books, their books The only thing the –s on the end of the “su” tells you is that the noun is plural. It tells you absolutely nothing about whether the word means his, their, etc.

5. What you can do if it’s not clear whether “su” means “his,” “her,” etc., is this: su libro = el libro de él su libro = el libro de ella In other words, you can say “the book of him” rather than “his book.” BUT NOT ON THE TEST.

6. That brings us to another point: there are no apostrophes in Spanish. The way you say, “Juan’s watch,” is “the watch of Juan”: El reloj de Juan

7. That’s really all you need to know about possessive adjectives. But what you need to know about possessive adjectives on the test is that they’ll be set up just like the homework you’re about to do: Example: his apples = ? You’re in trouble if you don’t know what “apples” is in Spanish and will lose a point. Be sure you review the two most recent vocab lists.

8. Click here to go to your homework.