possessive adjectives

Language

2022

We explain what possessive adjectives are, which ones precede the noun and examples in sentences. Also, possessive pronouns.

Possessive adjectives indicate possession with respect to something or someone.

What are possessive adjectives?

In grammar, adjectives possessive or possessive determiners are those words that modify a noun and they give you a sense of belonging to something or someone (that is, possession).

In Spanish, possessive adjectives are very common and frequently used words that share their function with other types of words, with which we should not confuse them, which are the possessive pronouns. In both cases, however, the possessives are related to the personal pronouns, since they indicate who owns something or someone.

For example, when we speak of "my friends", possession falls on "me", that is, on the first person singular: "I", in the same way as in "your friends" possession falls on "you" , that is to say, about the second person singular: “tú”.

In general, possessive adjectives coincide with the noun that they qualify in number and gender (and not with the possessor) and they usually come immediately before or immediately after it. However, many of them can also appear after verbs copulatives (like ser / estar), since they are still adjectives.

What are possessive adjectives?

Possessive pronouns have a finite number, since they correspond to personal pronouns. Thus, in principle, we talk about:

  • 1st person singular (I) - mine (s) or mine (s) and its apocopated form: my (s).
  • 2nd person singular (you) - yours (s) or yours (s) and its apocopated form: tu (s).
  • 3rd person singular (she / he) - his (s) or hers (s) and their apocopated form: his (s).
    1st person plural (we) - our (s) or our (s).
    2nd person plural (you) - yours (s) or yours (s) and its shortened form: su (s).
    3rd person plural (they / they) - yours (s) or yours (s) and its apocopated form: su (s).

On the other hand, only in the peninsular dialect, there are also:

  • 2nd person plural (you) - yours (s) or yours (s).

Now these possessive adjectives are used in two different ways, depending on where they appear in the prayer: those that go before the noun, and those that go elsewhere.

  • Possessive pronouns that precede the noun. In this case, the abbreviated forms are always used, that is, abbreviated, except for the first person plural (we), which lacks it. Also, these forms never have an accent. We refer to me, my, you, your, his, their and obviously, our, our, our Y our. For example: "me cousin", "my aunts ","you job", "your notebooks", "his Grandpa", "their assets "and"our friend "or"our things".
  • Possessive pronouns that go elsewhere. In these cases, the complete forms are used, in accordance with gender and number of the noun. That is to say: Own, mine, mine, mine, of yours, yours, yours, yours, yours, hers, his, his, our, our, our, our. For example: "a cousin Own", "a shirt mine", "a favor of yours"," For consideration yours", "a product our", "the family hers”.

Sentences with possessive adjectives

Here is a list of examples of sentences that use possessive adjectives:

  • My mother is going to stop by your house.
  • I need a favor from you.
  • What I do with my money is my business.
  • Your friends are like ours
  • One kiss from you and I'll be at your feet.
  • I want that award to be mine.
  • Our products are the best on the market.
  • Where did you leave my aunt?
  • They are going to take your aunt home.
  • Your talents are welcome.
  • That woman lost her wallet.
  • Your savings are in our bank vault.
  • Are these pants yours or mine?
  • I'm still waiting for a comment from you.

Possessive pronouns

Apart from possessive adjectives, the other form of grammatical particles capable of expressing a possessive relationship are possessive pronouns. However, they fulfill a different role within the sentence, since, instead of accompanying and determining a noun or a name, the pronouns serve to substitute it, making the language more economical and practical.

In their form, possessive pronouns are identical to non-apocopated possessive adjectives: mine (s), mine (s), yours (s), yours (s), our (s), our (s), his (s) , hers (s), but they are only used in replacement of a noun already mentioned earlier in the sentence, with respect to which there is a link of possession.

For example, in the sentence: "I forgot my notebook at home, can I borrow yours?" We will find two particles that indicate possession: an adjective ("my") and a pronoun ("yours"). The latter is recognizable because it replaces the noun ("notebook"), so that we do not have to rename it (it avoids having to say "your notebook"). We also know this because it is accompanied by a Article ("the").

Other examples of using possessive pronouns are:

  • Yesterday they towed a car and I thought it could be mine.
  • My father is a lawyer, and yours?
  • There is nothing in my bag, look in yours.
  • A thief could take ours.
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