In this lesson, you will learn all about possessive pronouns in the German language (Possessivpronomen), what they are and what they mean, where they are in sentences and how they change with the cases.
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What are possessive pronouns?
Possessive pronouns – Table view
Possessive pronouns by case – Table view
Meins, deins, meiner, deiner
What are possessive pronouns?
Possessive pronouns come before a noun and show what it belongs to.
Let’s check out a few examples:
Das ist Marina und ihre Schwester Eva. – This is Marina and her sister Eva.
The pronoun “ihr” refers to Marina, indicating her possession, while the suffix “-e” adapts to the feminine noun “Schwester.” Based on this, the possessive pronoun matches the noun and takes the appropriate endings.
Das ist Fillip und sein Bruder. – This is Fillip and his brother.
In this sentence, the pronoun ‘sein’ refers to Philip, meaning ‘his.’ There is no suffix because the masculine pronoun in the nominative case does not require one.
Possessive pronouns – Table view
| MASCULINE | NEUTER | FEMININE | PLURAL | |
| ich (I) | mein Bruder (my brother) | mein Kind (my child) | meine Schwester (my sister) | meine Eltern (my parents) |
| du (you) | dein Bruder (your brother) | dein Kind (your child) | deine Schwester (your sister) | deine Eltern (your parents) |
| er (he) | sein Bruder (his brother) | sein Kind (his child) | seine Schwester (his sister) | seine Eltern (his parents) |
| sie (she) | ihr Bruder (her brother) | ihr Kind (her child) | ihre Schwester (her sister) | ihre Eltern (her parents) |
| es (it) | sein Bruder (his brother) | sein Kind (his child) | seine Schwester (his sister) | seine Eltern (his parents) |
| wir (we) | unser Bruder (our brother) | unser Kind (our child) | unser Schwester (our sister) | unsere Eltern (our parents) |
| ihr (you) | euer Bruder (your brother) | euer Kind (your child) | eure Schwester (your sister) | eure Eltern (your parents) |
| Sie (you) fomral | Ihr Bruder (your brother) | Ihr Kind (your child) | Ihre Schwester (your sister) | Ihre Eltern (your parents) |
| sie (they) | ihr Bruder (their brother) | ihr Kind (their child) | ihre Schwester (their sister) | ihre Eltern (their parents) |
As you have seen, the pronouns that stand before the noun change and harmonize with the noun they stand next to, that is, they are declined:
Ihre Schwester- Your sister
eure Eltern – your parents
mein Bruder – my brother
Click on:
Grammar Contents
Possessive pronouns by case – Table view
In the table below you have an example for the nominative, accusative and dative, compare the similarities and differences. That is why they are often called Possessivartikel (Possessive article) in German.
| MASCULINE | NEUTER | FEMININE | PLURAL | |
| NOMINATIVE | mein Bruder my brother | mein Kind my child | meine Schwester my sister | meine Eltern /my parents meine Kinder/ my children meine Schwester/ my sisters |
| ACCUSATIVE | meinen Bruder my brother | mein Kind my child | meine Schwester my sister | meine Eltern /my parents meine Kinder/ my children meine Schwester/ my sisters |
| DATIVE | meinem Bruder my brother | meinem Kind my child | meiner Schwester my sister | meinen Eltern /my parents meinen Kindern/ my children meinen Schwestern/ my sisters |
| GENITIVE | meines Bruders of my brother | meines Kindes of my child | meiner Schwester of my sister | meiner Eltern /my parents meiner Kinder/ my children meiner Schwester/ my sisters |
* The negation kein, which appears in front of a noun and negates that noun, gets the same endings.
As you can see, the nominative and accusative differ only in the masculine gender, and the dative masculine and neuter singular have the same ending.
Meins, deins, meiner, deiner
The possessive pronoun can stand alone, without a noun, then it takes the suffixes of the definite article and regardless of the fact that the noun is not specified, the pronoun adapts to that invisible noun in gender, number and case.
| Masculine | Neuter | Feminine | Plural | |
| Nominative | meiner | meins | meine | meine |
| Accusative | meinen | meins | meine | meine |
| Dative | meinem | meinem | meiner | meinen |
| Genitive | meines | meines | meiner | meiner |
For examples:
Wem gehört der Kuli? – Es ist meiner. – Whose pen is this? – It’s mine.
Nominative
DER: Wo ist mein Kuli? – Ich weiß es nicht. Hier ist meiner. – Where is my pen? – I don’t know. Here’s mine.
DAS: Wo ist mein Heft? – Ich weiß es nicht. Hier ist meins. – Where is my notebook? – I don’t know. Here’s mine.
DIE: Wo ist meine Schere ? – Ich weiß es nicht. Hier ist meine. – Where are my scissors? – I don’t know. Here are mine.
Accusative
DER: Ich habe keinen Kuli. Hast du einen? I don’t have a pen. Do you have one?
DAS: Ich habe kein Heft. Hast du eins? I don’t have a notebook. Do you have one?
DIE: Ich habe keine Schere – Hast du eine ? I don’t have any scissors – do you have any?
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Bis zum nächsten Mal! 🙂
