{"id":94256,"date":"2023-09-07T05:39:02","date_gmt":"2023-09-07T09:39:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/learn\/german-possessive-pronouns-adjectives\/"},"modified":"2025-06-11T10:54:25","modified_gmt":"2025-06-11T14:54:25","slug":"german-possessive-pronouns-adjectives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/german\/german-possessive-pronouns-adjectives\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Use German Possessives: Adjectives vs. Pronouns"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hast du\u00a0meinen<\/strong> Hund gesehen? <\/em>(Have you seen\u00a0my<\/strong>\u00a0dog?)<\/p>\n

Dieser Hund ist meiner<\/strong>! <\/em>(This dog is mine<\/strong>!)<\/p>\n

While conveying the same meaning, what differentiates the two sentences above are the possessives, the first using the German possessive adjective meinen<\/em>\u00a0and the second using the German possessive pronoun meiner.<\/em><\/p>\n

Learn exactly how to form and take ownership of German possessive adjectives and German possessive pronouns<\/strong> in this post, along with useful tips and tricks.<\/p>\n

[fluentu-toc skip=4]
\n<\/p>\n

Identify the Correct Possessive Stem<\/h2>\n

The first step in constructing the correct possessive pronoun or adjective is choosing which pronoun stem<\/a> you’ll build from. The following is a list of the pronoun stems you’ll use in the nominative case:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
German<\/th>English<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
mein <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>my\/mine<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
dein <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>your\/yours<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
sein <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>his<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
ihr <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>her\/hers<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
sein <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>its<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
unser <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>our\/ours<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
euer <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>your\/yours (you plural)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
ihr <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>their\/theirs<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Ihr <\/a>\n <\/em><\/td>your\/yours (you formal)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

Now we’ll go over each one in more detail. The basic pronoun for each possessive is included in parentheses for reference.<\/p>\n

mein (ich)<\/em> \u2014\u00a0my\/mine (I)<\/h3>\n

Mein<\/em> is the stem you’d use if you were trying to translate the following sentence, using the first person:<\/p>\n

Ich habe einen kleinen Hund. Dieser Hund ist meiner<\/strong>.
\n<\/em>(I have a small dog. This dog is mine<\/strong>.)<\/p>\n

The correct possessive pronoun, therefore, is the one that corresponds to the owner of the noun being replaced, but also shows the case, gender and number of the noun, too.<\/p>\n

“Meiner”<\/em> shows that the noun,\u00a0der Hund<\/em> (the dog), is in the nominative case, masculine and singular via the -er<\/em> ending to\u00a0mein<\/em>, which shows that the noun belongs to the subject “ich.”<\/em><\/p>\n

We could say, “I have a small dog. This dog is my dog<\/strong>.” In the example above, however, the possessive pronoun “mine” replaces the entire “my dog” phrase. That’s why we can say, “This dog is mine<\/strong>” (“Dieser Hund ist meiner<\/strong>“)<\/em>\u2014the pronoun meiner<\/em> replaces the noun\u00a0mein Hund <\/em>altogether.<\/p>\n

dein (du)<\/em> \u2014\u00a0your\/yours (you singular)<\/h3>\n

Similarly, take the following example:<\/p>\n

Du hast einen kleinen Hund. Dieser Hund ist deiner<\/strong>.
\n<\/em>(You have a small dog. This dog is yours<\/strong>.)
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Since the subject “you”\u00a0owns the dog, we choose dein<\/em> as the possessive pronoun stem. We again use the ending -er<\/em> on the pronoun stem because the noun being replaced (der Hund)<\/em> hasn’t changed from the last example. Only the ownership changes, from “I” (ich)<\/em> to “you”<\/a> (du).<\/em><\/p>\n

sein (er)<\/em> \u2014\u00a0his (he)<\/h3>\n

Er hat einen kleinen Hund. Dieser Hund ist seiner<\/strong>.
\n<\/em>(He has a small dog. This dog is his<\/strong>.)<\/p>\n

ihr (sie)<\/em> \u2014\u00a0her\/hers (she)<\/h3>\n

Sie hat einen kleinen Hund. Dieser Hund ist ihrer<\/strong>.
\n<\/em>(She has a small dog. This dog is hers<\/strong>.)<\/p>\n

sein (es)<\/em> \u2014\u00a0its (it)<\/h3>\n

You probably won’t use the es <\/em>form a lot, but it’s easy enough to remember\u2014it’s the same as er\u2014<\/em>so the possessive here is seiner<\/em>. That means you don’t have to memorize an extra pronoun!<\/p>\n

unser (wir)<\/em> \u2014\u00a0our\/ours (we)<\/h3>\n

Wir haben einen kleinen Hund. Dieser Hund ist unserer<\/strong>.
\n<\/em>(We have a small dog. This dog is ours<\/strong>.)<\/p>\n

euer (ihr)<\/em> \u2014\u00a0your\/yours (you plural)<\/h3>\n

Ihr habt einen kleinen Hund. Dieser Hund ist eurer<\/strong>.
\n<\/em>(You (all) have a small dog. This dog is yours<\/strong>.)<\/p>\n

\u00a0ihr (sie)<\/em> \u2014\u00a0their\/theirs (they)<\/h3>\n

Sie haben einen kleinen Hund. Dieser Hund ist ihrer<\/strong>.
\n<\/em>(They have a small dog. This dog is theirs<\/strong>.)<\/p>\n

\u00a0Ihr (Sie) \u2014\u00a0<\/em>your\/yours (you formal)<\/h3>\n

Sie haben einen kleinen Hund. Dieser Hund ist Ihrer<\/strong>.
\n<\/em>(You have a small dog. This dog is yours<\/strong>.)<\/p>\n

German Possessive Adjectives<\/h2>\n

First we’re going to go over how to choose the right possessive adjective to put in front of your noun, as in: That’s my <\/strong>pen.<\/em><\/p>\n

Keep those possessive stems in mind! You’ll need to know your base to determine the correct ending.<\/p>\n

Here’s a chart of all the possible possessive adjective endings:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
<\/td>Masculine<\/th>Feminine<\/th>Neuter<\/th>Plural<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Nominative<\/strong><\/td>(none)<\/td>-e<\/em><\/td>(none)<\/td>-e<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Accusative<\/strong><\/td>-en<\/em><\/td>-e<\/em><\/td>(none)<\/td>-e<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Dative<\/strong><\/td>-em<\/em><\/td>-er<\/em><\/td>-em<\/em><\/td>-en<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Genitive<\/strong><\/td>-es<\/em><\/td>-er<\/em><\/td>-es<\/em><\/td>-er<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

Important notes:<\/strong><\/p>\n