Possessive Determiners For Intermediate learners
What Are Possessive Determiners?
Possessive determiners (determinantes posesivos) are used to show ownership or other genitive relations between nouns. Spanish has a set of short form possessive determiners and a set of long form possessive determiners.
Short Form Possessive Determiners
These forms appear before the noun. They agree with the possessed noun in terms of number and sometimes gender (only in case of first-person plural and second-person plural informal) and only their grammatical person is determined by the possessor. Take a look at the table and keep in mind that the "vosotros" form is only used as the informal plural second-person form in Spain, and Latin American Spanish uses "ustedes" in all contexts.
Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
yo | mi | mis |
tú | tu | tus |
él/ella/usted | su | sus |
nosotros/as | nuestro / nuestra | nuestros / nuestras |
vosotros/as | vuestro / vuestra | vuestros / vuestras |
ellos/ellas/ustedes | su | sus |
For example:
mi casa → mis casas
my house → my houses
tu libro → tus libros
your book → your books
su coche → sus coches
his/her/their/your car → his/her/their cars
nuestro amigo → nuestras amigas
our friend → our friends
vustra madre y vuestro padre
your mother and your father
Warning!
Unlike English, Spanish does not use possessive determiners with body parts and items of clothing; rather, the definite articles is used with these nouns.
Me lavo los manos.
I wash my hands.
Me puse la camisa.
I put on my shirt.
Long Form Possessive Determiners
These forms appear after the noun which is commonly preceded by an article or demonstrative determiner. They agree in number and gender with the possessed noun in all forms. They are used less commonly than short forms and sometimes not considered true determiners, but are used to add emphasis or contrast about the genitive relations. Check out the table below.
Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
yo | mío / mía | míos / mías |
tú | tuyo / tuya | tuyos / tuyas |
él/ella/usted | suyo / suya | suyos / suyas |
nosotros/as | nuestro / nuestra | nuestros / nuestras |
vosotros/as | vuestro / vuestra | vuestros / vuestras |
ellos/ellas/ustedes | suyo / suya | suyos / suyas |
For example:
un amigo mío / una amiga mia
a friend of mine
ese casa suya → esas casas suyas
that house of his/hers/theirs/yours → those houses of his/hers/theirs/yours
Possessive Determiners vs. Possessive Pronouns
Both possessive pronouns and possessive determiners show relationships of belonging between elements of the sentence. However, possessive determiners, whether in short or long form, are always accompanied by a noun. Possessive pronouns, on the other hand, are used on their own, because they replace the noun they refer to.
El perro mío es más grande que el tuyo.
My dog is bigger than yours.
Here, "mío" is a possessive determiner while "tuyo" is a pronoun, used without any noun.
Quiz:
Elige la oración correcta.
Mis hermana vive en Valencia.
Mi hermana vive en Valencia.
Mío hermana vive en Valencia.
Mías hermana vive en Valencia.
Empareja cada poseedor con el determinante posesivo corto correcto.
Elige la oración correcta con una parte del cuerpo.
Me duele mi cabeza.
Me duele una cabeza.
Me duele cabeza mía.
Me duele la cabeza.
Empareja cada frase con el función de la forma posesiva.
Completa las oraciones con el posesivo correcto.
No encuentro
llaves. (yo)
Los niños hicieron
tareas. (ellos)
vecinos son muy simpáticos. (nosotros)
Esa chaqueta
es muy bonita. (tú)
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