Possessive adjectives and pronouns

Possessive adjectives
Possessive pronouns

Possession in Spanish is often expressed by using a prepositional phrase such as Los cangrejos son de la abuela. Possessive adjectives and pronouns, however, also have shortened forms.

Possessive adjectives

Short form

Possessive adjectives are words such as my, your, our, their, etc., and the more commonly used Spanish forms are:

my – mi(s)
your — tu(s)
his, hers, your (sing.) — su(s)
our — nuestro(s) / nuestra(s)
your (pl.) — vuestro(s) / vuestra(s)
their, your (pl.) — su(s)

These possessive adjectives precede the nouns they modify. They all agree in number, and in the first and second person plural they also agree in gender.

Ése es mi libro favorito. (That is my favorite book.)
Dime tus opiniones. (Give me your opinions.)

It is important to remember that even though mi, tu, and su have a singular reference, they can have plural forms, since they reflect the number of the word they modify, not the identity of the person to whom they refer. Conversely, su may be plural, referring to "their" or "your" (plural), but it will be written su or sus depending on whether the noun it modifies is singular or plural.

Es su historia. [It is their (sing.) history.]
Traigan sus lápices. [Bring your (pl.) pencils.]

In addition, one should also remember that when referring to parts of the body or clothing, among other items, the definite article usually replaces the possessive adjective.

Me puse el sombero. (I put my hat on.)
Me quebré el brazo. (I broke my arm.)

Emphatic form

There is a longer form of the possessive adjective that is used primarily to draw special attention to the possessor, such as in the case of exclamations or in other situations in which the speaker wishes to be emphatic. These adjectives always follow the noun they modify, and they always reflect the number and gender of that noun. Following are just the masculine singular forms.

my — mío
your — tuyo
his, hers, your (sing.) — suyo
our — nuestro
your (pl.) — vuestro
their, your (pl.) — suyo

Examples:

¡Dios mío! (Heavens!)
Los regalos tuyos son los más grandes de todos. (Those presents of yours are the biggest of the lot.)
La casa suya vale más los otros.* (That house of theirs is worth more than the others.)
Es mía.** (It's mine.)

* Notice how ambiguous the word suya is. It could mean his, her, your (sing.), your (pl.), their, etc. To eliminate confusion one may also substitute this form with a prepositional phrase such as de él, de ella, de usted, de ellas, etc. to remove ambiguity.
**Both the emphatic form of the possessive adjective and the possessive pronoun can be used with the verb ser. The former use indicates simple possession, while the latter is used in situations where selection from various possibilities is implied. Compare, for instance Son nuestros and Estos son los nuestros.

Relative possessives

The relative possessive "whose," or cuyo, cuya, cuyos, cuyas, should not be confused with the interrogative ¿quién?

La muchacha cuyo hermano... (The girl whose brother...)
El libro cuyas páginas... (The book whose pages...)

Possessive pronouns

Possessive pronouns are similar in form to possessive adjectives, and, similar to them, these words reflect the number and gender of the word to which they refer. They are different only in that the definite article precedes the word. Following are just the masculine singular forms.

my — el mío
your — el tuyo
his, hers, your (sing.) — el suyo
our — el nuestro
your (pl.) — el vuestro
their, your (pl.) — el suyo

Examples:

¿Las preguntas? ¿Qué importancia tendrán las nuestras?
Éste es el mío. ¿Cuál es el tuyo?

Possessive adjectives and pronouns