Possessive Determiners For Intermediate learners

Possessive Determiners in German Grammar

What Are Possessive Determiners?

Possessivartikel (Possessive Determiners) are words that come before nouns and show possession or ownership. They work very similarly to English possessive determiners (my, your, his…), but in German they change their endings depending on the gender, number, and case of the noun they describe.

Basic Forms

Possessive determiners show ownership and answer the question "Whose?"
Each possessive determiner is based on a personal pronoun. The table below shows the basic possessive forms before adding endings:

Person	Possessive Determiner (German)	English
1st Person Singular	mein-	my
2nd Person Singular	dein-	your (informal)
3rd Person Singular	sein- / ihr- / sein-	his / her / its
1st Person Plural	unser-	our
2nd Person Plural	euer-	your (informal, plural)
3rd Person Plural	ihr-	their
2nd Person Formal	Ihr-	your (formal)

Example

Dein Handy ist kaputt.

Your phone is broken.

Wir haben unser Hotel schnell gefunden.

We found our hotel quickly.

Declension

Possessive determiners consist of a stem (mein-, dein-, sein-, etc.) and an ending. The following table shows how mein- changes in different cases and genders.

Case	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
Nominative	mein	meine	mein	meine
Accusative	meinen	meine	mein	meine
Dative	meinem	meiner	meinem	meinen
Genitive	meines	meiner	meines	meiner

Example

Meine Schwester kommt heute.

My sister is coming today.

Wir danken unseren Lehrern.

We thank our teachers.

Usage and Position

Possessive determiners are used to show who owns or is connected to a person or thing.

Placement

Possessive determiners are placed before nouns and at the beginning of a noun phrase. If adjectives are present, the word order is:
Possessive determiner + adjective(s) + noun

Example

Du trägst meine blaue Jacke.

You wear my blue jacket.

Wir essen in unserem neuen Lieblingscafé.

We're eating in our new favorite café.

Possessive Determiners vs. Possessive Pronouns

In German, possessive determiners appear before a noun and describe it, so they cannot stand alone, while possessive pronouns replace the noun entirely and refer back to something already mentioned.

Person	Possessive Determiner	Possessive Pronouns
1st Person Singular	mein-	mein-
2nd Person Singular	dein-	dein-
3rd Person Singular	sein- / ihr- / sein-	sein- / ihr- / sein-
1st Person Plural	unser-	unser-
2nd Person Plural	euer-	euer-
3rd Person Plural	ihr-	ihr-
2nd Person Formal	Ihr-	Ihr-

Possessive determiners take endings that match the gender, number, and case of the noun they modify, while possessive pronouns also decline for gender, number, and case but stand alone and replace the noun entirely.