Lesson 13: Possessive adjectives and pronouns

Part 1: How Spanish differs from English

English has seven distinct possessive forms: my, your, his, her, its, our, their. Spanish has fewer distinct forms, but they do something English doesn't: they agree with the thing owned, not the owner.

English	Spanish	Why
my father	mi padre	mi doesn't change for gender
my mother	mi madre	same mi
my parents	mis padres	mis — plural, because padres is plural
our daughter	nuestra hija	feminine, agreeing with hija
our son	nuestro hijo	masculine, agreeing with hijo

Mental flip: Don't think "his = his". Think "su = a possessive that points at one possessor and agrees with the thing it's attached to." Su hijo and su hija are both fine; you change the ending to match the kid, not the parent.

And the big collapse: Spanish has just one word — su — that covers his / her / your (formal) / their. When ambiguous, Spanish clarifies with de él / de ella / de usted / de ellos.

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Part 2: Two parallel systems — short and long

Spanish has two parallel possessive systems. They are NOT interchangeable.

System	Where it sits	Example
Short (átona, unstressed)	BEFORE the noun	mi casa — my house
Long (tónica, stressed)	AFTER the noun, or used as a pronoun	la casa mía — my house; la mía — mine

Remember: short = unstressed, sticks to the left of the noun. Long = stressed, sits to the right, or stands alone (replacing the noun).

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Part 3: Short forms (mi, tu, su, nuestro, vuestro, su)

Full table

Person	Singular (one thing)	Plural (many things)
yo	mi	mis
tú	tu	tus
él / ella / usted	su	sus
nosotros / nosotras	nuestro / nuestra	nuestros / nuestras
vosotros / vosotras	vuestro / vuestra	vuestros / vuestras
ellos / ellas / ustedes	su	sus

Core rules

1. Agreement in NUMBER — always: mi libro → mis libros.
2. Agreement in GENDER — ONLY for nuestro/vuestro: nuestra casa, vuestros amigos.
3. mi, tu, su do NOT change for gender: mi padre and mi madre, su hijo and su hija.

Examples

Spanish	English
mi hermano / mis hermanas	my brother / my sisters
tu coche / tus llaves	your car / your keys
su abuelo	his / her / your / their grandpa
nuestra familia / nuestros padres	our family / our parents
vuestro perro / vuestras maletas	your (you all) dog / suitcases

Trap #1: tu (your) is written WITHOUT a tilde. tú with a tilde is the pronoun "you".

Trap #2: mi casa = "my house", but mí (with a tilde) = "me" after a preposition. Para mí = "for me".

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Part 4: Long forms (mío, tuyo, suyo, nuestro, vuestro, suyo)

Full table

Person	masc. sg.	fem. sg.	masc. pl.	fem. pl.
yo	mío	mía	míos	mías
tú	tuyo	tuya	tuyos	tuyas
él/ella/usted	suyo	suya	suyos	suyas
nosotros	nuestro	nuestra	nuestros	nuestras
vosotros	vuestro	vuestra	vuestros	vuestras
ellos/ellas/ustedes	suyo	suya	suyos	suyas

Notice: nuestro/vuestro are identical in short and long forms. Only mío, tuyo, suyo change shape.

Three uses of the long form

1. After the noun — emphasis / literary feel:

• un amigo mío — "a friend of mine" ("one of my friends")
• una idea tuya — an idea of yours
• ¡Dios mío! — My God! (fixed)
• hijo mío — my son (address, warm or ironic)

2. After the verb ser — "it's mine" (no article):

• Este libro es mío. — This book is mine.
• Estas llaves son tuyas. — These keys are yours.
• El coche es nuestro. — The car is ours.
• ¿Es suya esta maleta? — Is this suitcase yours/his/hers?

3. As a pronoun — with the article:

• Mi coche es rojo, el tuyo es azul. — My car is red, yours is blue.
• Tu casa es grande, la mía es pequeña. — Your house is big, mine is small.
• Nuestros hijos y los vuestros son amigos. — Our kids and yours are friends.
• Esta mochila no es la suya. — This backpack isn't his/hers.

Trap #3: "It's mine" = Es mío (no article). "It's the one that's mine" = Es el mío. Subtle, but natives feel it.

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Part 5: The main headache — disambiguating su

Su / sus simultaneously means six things: his / her / your-formal / their (m.) / their (f.) / your-pl. (de ustedes — universal in Latin America, where vuestro isn't used).

When context doesn't disambiguate, Spanish clarifies with de + pronoun:

Ambiguous	Clarified	English
su casa	la casa de él	his house
su casa	la casa de ella	her house
su casa	la casa de usted	your house (formal)
su casa	la casa de ellos / de ellas	their house (m. / f.)
su casa	la casa de ustedes	your house (pl.)

Use su if one owner is clear from context. Switch to de él / de ella when there are multiple third persons in the text, or use de usted / de ustedes for formal clarity. In Latin America, de ustedes is the standard equivalent to vuestro.

Real-life example: María habla con Pedro. Su madre está aquí. — Whose mother? Clarify: La madre de ella (= María's) or La madre de él (= Pedro's).

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Part 6: Body parts and clothing — the definite article, not the possessive

One of the cleanest divergences from English. With body parts and personal clothing, Spanish uses the definite article where English insists on my / your / his:

Spanish	English
Me duele la cabeza.	My head hurts.
Me lavo las manos.	I wash my hands.
Levanta la mano.	Raise your hand.
Se pone el abrigo.	He puts on his coat.
Me rompí el brazo.	I broke my arm.

The possessive is redundant: a reflexive verb (me lavo) or an indirect object pronoun (me duele) has already announced who the owner is. Me lavo mis manos sounds calqued from English — Spanish speakers wouldn't say it.

Internalize this: in Spanish, el brazo is "my arm" when context says so. Don't add mi. The article does the work.

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