In English, we have possessive pronouns (i.e. my, your, his, her, our, and their). Which one you use depends on who owns the thing or object. In Spanish, you make the same kind of choice. In other words, you initially pick a possessive pronoun based on the owner.
pronombres posesivos
| singular owner, singular possession | plural owner, singular possession | |
|---|---|---|
| 1a |  mi |
nuestro / nuestra |
| 2a | tu |
vuestro / vuestra |
| 3a | su |
su |
pronombres posesivos
| singular owner, plural possession | plural owner, plural possession | |
|---|---|---|
| 1a | mis |
nuestros / nuestras |
| 2a | tus |
vuestros / vuestras |
| 3a | sus |
sus |
However, in Spanish the possessive pronouns function as adjectives which means that they must agree in gender and number with the noun (the possession) that they modify.
| Mi casa es azul. |
|
| Mis cuadernos son verdes. |
 |
| Tu amiga se llama Rosa. |
|
| Tus padres son amables. |
While all possessive pronouns have a singular and plural form, they don’t all have a different form for masculine and feminine gender. However, the nuestro and vuestro forms do have distinct forms to express gender. In other words, with these possessive pronouns, you have to pay attention to agreement with gender, in addition to number.
The possessive pronoun agrees in gender and number with the noun it modifies. You have chosen which possessive pronoun to use based on the owner but the ending you give to the possessive pronoun is strictly related to the possession; it does not have anything to do with the biological gender of the owner, nor how many people actually own the object.
The case of third person possessive adjectives can sometimes be a little confusing because su is used for both singular and plural owners. In other words, it can mean his/her as well as your (singular or plural) and their. You will be able to tell from the context of the conversation whether su refers to his/her, your, or their. This possessive pronoun, like mi and tu, does not change in order to show gender agreementit only changes to show number agreement with the object/thing owned.
- Su amiga es interesante. (La amiga de Juan es interesante.)
- Sus amigos son liberales. (Los amigos de Juan son liberales.)
- Su carro es nuevo. (El carro de Ana y Rafi es nuevo.)
- Sus padres son pacientes. (Los padres de Ana y los padres de Jose son pacientes.)
Candela Citations
- Lesson 3: Estructuras gramaticales. Authored by: Open Learning Initiative. Provided by: Carnegie Mellon. Located at: https://oli.cmu.edu/jcourse/lms/students/syllabus.do?section=037856eb80020ca6007833f93f06cd13. Project: Spanish1. License: CC BY-NC-ND: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives
