possessive adjectives
TRANSCRIPT
SHOWING POSSESSION & RELATIONSHIPS
Español I
THE PREPOSITION DE
Sara’s boyfriend
Daniel’s shirt
Dad’s sisters
Maria’s shoes
Veronica’s husband
Dr. Sánchez’s class
el novio de Sara
la camisa de Daniel
las hermanas de papá
los zapatos de María
el esposo de Verónica
la clase del Dr.
Sánchez
In Spanish, there are no apostrophes (Tyler’s pet).
Instead, the preposition de is used to show possession or
relationships (la mascota de Tyler).
POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES
In English, possessive adjectives are also commonly used to express ownership or relationships. my cat
my sisters
her dress
her shoes
his phone
our house
our apartment
your friend
your socks
The same is true for Spanish. Examine the Spanish equivalents below. What patterns do you notice? mi gato
mis hermanas
su vestido
sus zapatos
su teléfono
nuestra casa
nuestro apartamento
tu amigo
tus calcetines
POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES (CONT.)
SPANISH ENGLISH EQUIVALENTS
mi, misnuestro, nuestros
nuestra, nuestras
tu, tusvuestro, vuestros
vuestra, vuestras
su, sus su, sus
my our
your (inf.) your (inf., pl.)
his, her, its,
your (form.)their, your (pl.)
USING POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES Possessive adjectives are adjectives. Therefore, they must agree in
number and gender with the nouns that they describe!
Unlike other adjectives, possessive adjectives are placed before the nouns that they describe.
You must consider the following three things: Who is the owner (of the object)?
What is the number (of the object)? (One, or more than one?)
What is the gender (of the object)? (Masculine or feminine? … for nuestro/vuestro only)
my uncle mi tío
my grandparents mis abuelos
her notebook su cuaderno
our sister nuestra hermana
our cousins nuestros primos
ALTERNATIVES TO SU
Why do you think that the possessive adjective su can be confusing?
The word su can mean: his, her, its, your (formal), your (plural), and their!
If you need to emphasize or give more detail, simply use “de + pronoun or person’s name” instead of the possessive adjective su.
Es su tío.
Es el tío de él.
Es el tío de Paco.
de usted, él, ella, ustedes, ellos(-as)
de person’s name