Possessive articles: mein, dein, sein, ihr, unser
Say what belongs to whom: one possessive for each person, with the same endings as ein and kein in the nominative and the accusative.
Nouns and articles · Beginner · 20 min · 40 exercises · Goethe A1, High school, College
My brother, your phone, her parents: possessive articles (die Possessivartikel) say who something belongs to. In English, my is always my. In German, the possessive takes an ending that depends on the noun after it, exactly like ein and kein. If you know kein, keine, keinen, you already know mein, meine, meinen.
One possessive for each person
| Pronoun | Possessive | English |
|---|---|---|
| ich | mein | my |
| du | dein | your (one person, informal) |
| er | sein | his |
| sie (she) | ihr | her |
| es | sein | its |
| wir | unser | our |
| ihr | euer | your (several people, informal) |
| sie (they) | ihr | their |
| Sie | Ihr | your (formal) |
The endings are those of ein and kein
In the nominative: no ending before a masculine or neuter noun, -e before a feminine or plural noun. mein Bruder, mein Kind, meine Schwester, meine Eltern. In the accusative, only the masculine changes, to -en: Ich besuche meinen Bruder. This works for every possessive: deinen, seinen, ihren, unseren, Ihren.
no ending
- masculine nominative: mein Bruder
- neuter: mein Kind
-e
- feminine: meine Schwester
- plural: meine Eltern
-en
- masculine accusative only
- Ich besuche meinen Bruder.
Nominative and accusative of mein
| Case | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | mein Bruder | meine Schwester | mein Kind | meine Eltern |
| Accusative | meinen Bruder | meine Schwester | mein Kind | meine Eltern |
Possessives in sentences
- Das ist mein Bruder.That is my brother.nominative masculine: no ending
- Meine Schwester heißt Clara.My sister is called Clara.feminine: -e
- Ich besuche meinen Bruder.I am visiting my brother.accusative masculine: -en
- Wo ist dein Handy?Where is your phone?neuter: no ending
- Unsere Eltern wohnen in Salzburg.Our parents live in Salzburg.plural: -e
- Herr Braun, ist das Ihre Tasche?Mr. Braun, is that your bag?formal Ihr, always with a capital letter
Sein or ihr? Two separate questions
Ask two questions. First: who is the owner? A male owner (or a der-word or das-word) gives sein, a female owner gives ihr, exactly like his and her. Second: what is owned? That noun decides the ending. So Paul says seine Schwester (his sister): sein because of Paul, -e because of Schwester. Anna says ihr Bruder (her brother): ihr because of Anna, no ending because of Bruder.
Owner and thing owned
| Owner | der Bruder | die Schwester | Accusative: den Bruder |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paul (er) | sein Bruder | seine Schwester | Paul besucht seinen Bruder. |
| Anna (sie) | ihr Bruder | ihre Schwester | Anna besucht ihren Bruder. |
| Paul und Anna (sie) | ihr Bruder | ihre Schwester | Sie besuchen ihren Bruder. |
Euer loses an e
When euer takes an ending, the e before the r drops out: eure Mutter, eure Eltern, euren Vater. Without an ending it stays whole: euer Vater, euer Haus. Unser keeps all its letters: unsere Mutter, unseren Vater.
The word ihr has several jobs. As a pronoun it means you (several people): Ihr seid nett. As a possessive it means her or their: ihr Hund. With a capital letter, Ihr is the formal your. The context tells you which one it is: look for a noun right after it.
The ending never tells you who the owner is. Seine Schwester is his sister: the -e is there because Schwester is feminine, not because the owner is female. English speakers also forget the accusative: Ich suche meinen Schlüssel, not Ich suche mein Schlüssel, because der Schlüssel is a masculine direct object.
The exercises of this lesson
40 corrected exercises in three sessions (discovery, practice, challenge): multiple choice (5), fill in the gap (11), find the mistake (5), word order (1), rewrite (5), translation (6), gap text (3), matching (2), sorting (2). Every answer is corrected immediately, with the rule that applies.