Possessive Pronouns

Possessive pronouns show ownership and indicate that something belongs to someone particular. With their help, we can make a possessive phrase shorter.

"Possessive Pronouns" in English Grammar

What Are Possessive Pronouns?

Possessive pronouns, like other pronouns, can replace nouns or noun phrases and help us show shows a relationship of possession or ownership.

English Possessive Pronouns

In the table below, you can see English possessive pronouns:

Subject Pronouns Possessive Pronouns
I mine
You Yours
He His
She Hers
It -
We Ours
You Yours
They Theirs

Let us see some examples for more clarity:

Based on my father's will, the condo is now ours.

Instead of saying 'the condo now belongs to us,' you can use the sentence above which is shorter and more straightforward.

Judith is standing over there; the puppy must be hers.

Instead of saying 'the puppy must belong to her,' you can use 'hers' which is shorter.

Warning

Notice that when you use possessive pronouns or possessive determiners, you do not need an article (a, an, the).

Possessive Pronouns vs. Possessive Determiners

Another way of showing possession and belonging is using possessive determiners. Basically, the difference between these two types of possessives is that possessive determiners cannot be used alone and they always need another noun after them, but possessive pronouns always stand alone.

English Possessive Determiners

In this table you can see a list of English possessive determiners:

Possessive Pronouns Possessive Determiners (adjectives)
Mine My
Yours Your
His His
Hers Her
Its Its
Ours Our
Yours Your
Theirs Their

A : Is that your car?

B : No, the black Impala is mine.

In the first sentence of the conversation, after 'your' we have a noun. In the second sentence, you can use 'mine' instead of 'my car' to avoid repetition.

When to Use Possessive Pronouns instead of Determiners

There are cases in which it is better to use a possessive pronoun instead of a determiner + noun:

  • You can use possessive pronouns instead of noun phrases to emphasize the possession rather than the noun;

A : Can you tell me which one is your child?

B : The little girl in the green dress is mine.

'Mine' is used instead of the noun phrase 'my child.'

A : This handwriting is awful! Is it yours?

B : No, but it looks like Anna's; I think it's hers.

Instead of using 'Anna’s handwriting,' you can use 'Anna’s' and 'hers.'

  • You can use these pronouns to make double genitives; these are structures made by a possessive noun/pronoun following the preposition 'of.' By possessive noun, we simply mean a noun with the possessive 's.'

Julia is a colleague of mine; I'd like to invite her to the party.

Instead of saying 'Julia is my colleague,' we can also say 'Julia is a colleague of mine.'

I'm a friend of Lucy's; can I come in?

Instead of saying 'I'm Lucy's friend,' we can also say 'I'm a friend of Lucy's.' Be careful not to forget the ('s) after Lucy.

When to Use Possessives

The most important use of possessives (determiner and pronouns) is to show possession and belonging, but they have uses beyond that as well. Possessive can also be used to show:

Showing ownership with possessive pronouns

  • the relationship between the person who possesses and someone else: my mother, her husband
  • to refer to a part of a person's body or thing: His arm, the table's legs
  • to indicate a person or thing related to a person: my classmates, your hometown
  • to represent the person who does or undergoes an action: We waited at the airport until his departure.
  • to refer to the creator, user, etc. of the thing in possession: Queen's last speech, their last song

Asking Questions about Possession

'Whose' is an interrogative pronoun and it helps with making questions and asking about possessions. Basically, in questions with 'whose,' you are looking for the owner. The questions with 'whose' can mostly be answered with possessive pronouns. Take a look at these examples:

A : Whose house is that? It's gorgeous!

B : It's mine.

Instead of repeating the question and answering 'It’s my house,' you can easily answer by using the possessive pronoun 'mine.'

A : Whose dog is this?

B : I don't know. Maybe it's his.

Warning

Notice that the possessive determiner and possessive pronoun for 'he' are both 'his.'

Review

We use possessive determiners and possessive pronouns to show belonging. So, let us see what their functions are.

  • Possessive pronouns: are used alone in the place of subject or object.
  • Possessive determiners (adjectives): are used before nouns.
Possessive Pronouns Possessive Determiners (adjectives)
mine my
yours your
his his
hers her
its -
ours our
yours your
theirs their

Comments

Loading recaptcha

You might also like

Reflexive Pronouns

Reflexive Pronouns are used to show that the subject and object of a sentence are exactly the same person or thing or there is a direct connection between them.

Emphatic Pronouns

'Emphatic pronouns' are used to refer to a noun or a pronoun mentioned earlier. So they give more detailed information.

Interrogative Pronouns

There are five interrogative pronouns in English. Each is used to ask a specific question. In this lesson, we will learn more about these pronouns.

Indefinite Pronouns

Indefinite pronouns refer to people or things without saying exactly who or what they are. In this lesson, we will learn more about these pronouns.

Dummy Pronouns

Dummy pronouns function grammatically the same as other pronouns, except they do not refer to a person or thing like normal pronouns do.

Reciprocal Pronouns

When two or more people are doing the same thing and receiving the consequences of that action at the same time we use reciprocal pronouns.

download langeek app for free