Mine and Yours: Possessive Adjectives and Pronouns

Possessive adjectives describe who owns, or possesses, something. Like most adjectives in Spanish, their form depends on the number and/or gender of the noun they describe.

Here are the forms of the possessive adjectives with some examples of their use:

mi/mis	Mi gato. Mis gatos.
	My cat. My cats.
	Mi casa. Mis casas.
	My house. My houses.
tu/tus	Tu gato. Tus gatos.
	Your cat. Your cats. (familiar)
	Tu casa. Tus casas.
	Your house. Your houses. (familiar)
su/sus	Su gato. Sus gatos.
	His/her/its/your (singular formal) cat.
	His/her/its/your (singular formal) cats.
	Su casa. Sus casas.
	His/her/its/your (singular formal) house.
	His/her/its/your (singular formal) houses.
nuestro/nuestros	Nuestro gato. Nuestros gatos.
	Our cat. Our cats.
nuestra//nuestras	Nuestra casa. Nuestras casas.
	Our house. Our houses.
vuestro/vuestros	Vuestro gato. Vuestros gatos.
	Your cat. Your cats. ("you-all's"-plural familiar)
vuestra/vuestras	Vuestra casa. Vuestras casas.
	Your house. Your houses. (plural familiar)
su/sus	Su gato. Sus gatos.
	Their/your (plural formal) cat.
	Their/your (plural formal) cats.
	Su casa. Sus casas.
	Their/your (plural formal) house.
	Their/your (plural formal) houses.

Note that the mi/mis, tu/tus, su/sus forms depend only whether there is one, or more than one, possessed item; it doesn't matter what the gender of the item/items is.

Su/sus have a number of meanings and when there is ambiguity, we use a prepositional phrase showing possession:

su casa/sus casas su gato/sus gatos
La casa/las casas de él.	His house/houses. ("The house/houses of him...")
El gato/los gatos de ella.	Her cat/cats.
La casa/las casas de usted.	Your house/houses. (singular formal)
El gatos/los gatos de ellos.	Their (masculine or masculine/feminine) cat/cats.
La casa/las casas de ellas.	Their (feminine) house/houses.
El gato/los gatos de ustedes.	Your cat/cats (plural formal).

Remember to use su/sus for your whenever you're speaking to one or more people using usted or ustedes.

In the cases of nuestro/nuestros/nuestra/nuestras and vuestro/vuestros/vuestra/ vuestras, the correct form is determined by the number and the gender of what is possessed, and follows the patterns of the majority of Spanish adjectives, as shown in the examples above.


Remember to use vuestro/vuestros/vuestra/vuestras whenever you're speaking to one or more people using vosotros or vosotras.


When used after the nouns, the possessive adjectives have different forms, depending on the number and gender of what is possessed:

Mi gato./El gato mío.	My cat.
Mis gatos./Los gatos míos.	My cats.
Es mío.	It is mine.
Son míos.	They are mine.

Here is a list of these "postposition" possessive adjectives:

mío/mía/míos/mías	my
tuyo/tuya/tuyos/tuyas	your
suyo/suya/suyos/suyas	his/her, your (Ud.)
nuestro/nuestra/nuestros/nuestras	our
vuestro/vuestra/vuestros/vuestras	your ("you-all's")
suyo/suya/suyos/suyas	his/her/their, your (Uds.)

Mine, yours, his/hers, etc.: Possessive pronouns:

These same "postposition" adjectives are also possessive pronouns, and when combined with an article, can be used to substitute a noun:

El mío.	(That which is...) Mine (one thing, masculine singular)
Las tuyas.	(Those which are...) Yours (more than one thing, feminine plural)
Lo suyo.	(That/those which is/are...) His/hers; yours (de Ud. or de Uds.); theirs (indeterminate number and gender); refers to an unspecified or undefinable object or objects belonging to him, her, etc:

¡Deme lo mío! Give me what is mine!