Possessive Adjectives in Spanish – Short form
Chances are you’ve heard the phrase ‘Mi casa es su casa’. Let’s take a closer look and get these active in our everyday speech.
Es miércoles el 2 de agosto 2017.
Hoy es Post 129/365
Buenos días,
Thanks for stopping by today!
Possessive adjectives are little words (meaning 2-3 letter words) that we need to have to make a sentence clear.
If I told a guest, ‘Make yourself at home. My house is your house.’ My and your are the possessive adjectives, they show possession and they describe so they are an adjective.
Here we go!
mi casa – my house
mis perros – my dogs
tu libro – your book
tus amigos – your friends
Ojo: – Notice:
1. In Spanish the words my and your have a singular and a plural form depending on if what you have is singular or plural.
2. tú con acento significa – you, pero tu sin acento significa – your
So far so good?
Ejemplos:
¿Dónde está tu libro?
Mi libro está en mi carro.
¿Dónde están tus amigos?
Mis amigos están de vacaciones en Costa Rica.
Let’s rework our phrase: Mi casa es tu casa. (informal)
Let’s continue!
su casa – his house / her house /your house (de Ud. – formal)
sus hijos – his kids / her kids /your kids (de Ud. – formal)
Ojo
1. ‘casa’ es singular y ‘su’ es singular
2. ‘hijos’ es plural y ‘sus’ es plural
Ejemplos:
¿Dónde está su casa? – Where is his house / her house / your house (formal)?
Su casa está en las montañas. – His house / her house / your house is in the mountains.
¿Dónde están sus hijos? – Where are his kids / her kids / your kids (formal)?
Sus hijos están en el parque con mis hijos. – His kids / her kids / your kids are in the park with my kids.
Let’s rework our phrase:
Mi casa es su casa. – My house is his / her / your house. ; – )
Su casa es tu casa. – His / Her / Your (formal) house. ; – ) …just playing!
Tu casa es su casa. – Your house is his / her / your house. ; – )
Su casa es mi casa. – His / her / your house is my house. ; – )
Doing ok?
nuestro carro – our car
nuestra casa – our house
nuestros carros – our cars
nuestras casas – our houses
Ojo
1. Although ‘we‘ are plural ‘our‘ is singular…and masculine because ‘carro‘ is singular/masculine.
2. Although ‘we‘ are a man and a woman or 2 men or 2 women, ‘nuestra‘ is singular y feminine because ‘casa‘ is sing/fem.
3. Of course ‘we’ are plural, but nuestros and nuestras are plural becuase ‘carros y casas’ is plural.
Still doing ok? Stay with me! We’ll get this sorted out.
Ejemplos:
¿Dónde está nuestro gato? – Where is our cat?
Nuestro gato está encima del piano. – Our cat is on top of the piano
Nuestros amigos viven en Tejas. – Our friends live in Texas
Nuestras universidades son muy buenas. – Our universities are really good.
Let’s rework our phrase:
Nuestra casa es tu casa. – Our house is your house. (informal)
Nuestra casa es su casa. – Our house is his / her / your (formal) house.
Su casa es nuestra casa. – His / Her / Your house is our house.
One more to go!
su casa – Their house / your house (de Ustedes – plural)
sus hijos – Their kids / your kids (de Uds. – plural)
Ojo
1. This is where it gets tricky! ‘su’ is singular because ‘casa’ is singular and ‘sus’ is plural not because ‘they’ are plural, rather because ‘hijos’ is plural.
2. Singular and plural with possessive adjectives is based on the person or object ‘claimed’, no on the person who ‘owns/claims’ it.
Ejemplos:
¿Dónde está su casa? – Where is their house / you guy’s house / his house / her house / your house (formal)?
Su casa está en las montañas. – Their house / you all’s house / his house / her house / your house is in the mountains.
¿Dónde están sus hijos? – Where are their kids / you all’s kids /his kids / her kids / your kids (formal)?
Sus hijos están en el parque con mis hijos. – Their kids / you all’s kids /his kids/ her kids / your kids are in the park with my kids.
Let’s rework our phrase:
Mi casa es su casa. – My house is their / you guy’s / his / her / your house. ; – )
Su casa es nuestra casa. – Their / your (plural) /His / Her / Your (formal) house is our house
Let’s practice, then we’ll come back to it again tomorrow!
Action steps:
1. Translate the following: then find the answers below.
2. Link back to our previous lesson on ‘masculine and feminine’
3. Come back tomorrow for Parte 2
1. my Spanish
2. his dog
3. our dog (female)
4. their family
5. their tacos
6. our tacos
7. her parents
8. your friends (informal)
9. your pen (formal)
10. my favorite songs
Gracias por pasar por Spanish Blog 365 hoy!
Hasta mañana,
Carolina
1. my Spanish – mi español
2. his dog – su perro
3. our dog (female) – nuestra perra
4. their family – su familia
5. their tacos – sus tacos
6. our tacos – nuestros tacos
7. her parents – sus padres / sus papas
8. your friends (informal) – tus amigos
9. your pen (formal) – su pluma
10. my favorite songs – mis canciones favoritas
