Possessive adjectives are little words that show who something belongs to: my, your, his, her, our, their. In Spanish they go before the thing you own: mi familia, tus primos, nuestra casa. Below: the words, the rules that trip people up, real sentences, and practice you can quiz yourself on.
a quick plain English check before we start
The owner is the person who has the thing. Here are the owners you will see in the tables:
the "gotchas" worth memorizing early
English and Spanish do this the same way. Put the possessive first, then the person or thing you own.
✓ mi casa = my house
✓ tus abuelos = your grandparents
Look at the noun after the possessive. One thing? Use the one-thing form. Many things? Add an s.
✓ mi prima = my cousin (one)
✓ mis primas = my cousins (many)
One owner can have many things. Natalia is one person, but she has many cousins: sus primos.
Look at the noun after it. El word? Use nuestro. La word? Use nuestra.
Alejandro es nuestro tío.
Clara es nuestra tía.
Plural: nuestros tíos, nuestras tías.
Works the same way as nuestro. You will mostly see it in Spain. In Latin America, people use su for a group.
vuestro primo, vuestra prima
Plural: vuestros primos, vuestras primas.
The other possessives (mi, tu, su) only change for one or many. They do not change for el words and la words.
his, her, your (polite, Ud.), their, your all (Uds.)
Most of the time the sentence tells you who the owner is.
Su sobrino es cariñoso.
His, her or their nephew is affectionate.
Say the thing first, then de and the owner's name or pronoun.
Es la tía de Natalia.
Es la tía de ella.
Both mean the same as Es su tía, but now everyone knows who owns the aunt.
Spanish has no 's. "Natalia's aunt" becomes la tía de Natalia. Pick one way: su tía or la tía de Natalia. Do not use both.
who owns it · the possessive word · an example
the same words at work, using vocabulary from our unit on la familia
a short culture card: how Spanish speakers build a full name
In Spanish-speaking countries, people have two last names. The first is the father's. The second is the mother's.
José's father is Antonio Hernández Vargas. His mother is María Rodríguez López. So he takes Hernández from his father and Rodríguez from his mother: José Hernández Rodríguez.
Your friend Renato Gómez Canal is also just Renato Gómez. The second last name is not always used.
Tradition: a married woman adds de and her husband's last name. Renato's mother is Dolores Canal de Gómez. Many young people today do not use this custom anymore.
The family words, describing words and memory words from the unit. Cover the right side and quiz yourself.
Tap a card to reveal it. For typed practice, type your answer and press Check. You do not need to type accents.
Say the possessive words out loud first, then tap to check.
Complete each sentence with the right possessive adjective. Type one word in each blank.
Look at the noun after the blank. Is it an el word or a la word? One or many?
Write the Spanish. Type the possessive and the noun.
Tap the choice that completes the sentence. A wrong tap lets you try again.
Fill each blank with a word from the bank. Words can repeat, and some will not be used.
Read the sentence. Find the mistake in your head, then tap to see the fix and why.
Tap a Spanish word, then tap its English meaning.
Build the full name: nombre + apellido #1 del padre + apellido #1 de la madre.
Say the sentence in Spanish out loud. Then tap to see a model answer.