What are possessive pronouns?

Possessive pronouns (in German: Possessivpronomen) are a subcategory of pronouns and express possession, ownership, or affiliation (with people, things, animals, etc.). The standard position within a clause or phrase is before a noun, where they are called determiners. German possessives are declinable and can, thus, be inflected.

• The following possessive pronouns exist in German. For a better understanding, they are presented with the respective personal pronouns:
  • In the 1st person:
    • Singular:
      • ich (I) → mein (my)
    • Plural:
      • wir (we) → unser (our)
  • In the 2nd person:
    • Singular:
      • du (you) → dein (your)
      • Sie (you) → Ihr (your)
    • Plural:
      • ihr (you) → euer (your)
      • Sie (you) → Ihr (your)
    • Note: When a person is addressed in the formal way (by using the polite ‘Sie’ form), the possessive is capitalized. This rule does not apply to the third person!
  • In the 3rd person:
    • Singular:
      • er (he) → sein (his)
      • sie (she) → ihr (her)
      • es (it) → sein (its)
    • Plural:
      • sie (they) → ihr (their)
• Possessive pronouns are used as follows:
  • As a determiner when they appear together with a noun (often directly before it):
    • „Hast du meinen Schlüssel gesehen?“ (Have you seen my key?)
    • „Deine Hilfe schätzen wir sehr.“ (We greatly appreciate your help.)
  • Directly as an independent pronoun, which is very common in spoken language and relatively rare in written form:
    • „Mein Computer ist kaputt. Kann ich deinen benutzen?“ (My computer’s broken. Can I use yours?)
    • „Nicht schlecht, ihr habt ein großes Haus. Unseres ist viel kleiner.“ (Not bad, you’ve got a big house. Ours is much smaller.)

How are possessive pronouns declined (inflected)?

Possessive pronouns need to be declined (inflected) in most cases. The table shows all forms using the example ‘unser’, although the endings are the same for all other possessives.

Singular

Grammatical case	Possessive with a masculine noun	with a feminine noun	with a neuter noun
Nominative	unser Ball (our ball)	unsere Brille (our glasses)	unser Auto (our car)
Genitive	unseres Balles	unserer Brille	unseres Autos
Dative	unserem Ball	unserer Brille	unserem Auto
Accusative	unseren Ball	unsere Brille	unser Auto

Plural

Information: For each grammatical case, the endings remain the same for masculine, feminine, and neuter nouns.

Grammatical case	Suffix	Possessive with a masculine noun	with a feminine noun	with a neuter noun
Nominative	-e	unsere Bälle (our balls)	unsere Brillen (our glasses)	unsere Autos (our cars)
Genitive	-er	unserer Bälle	unserer Brillen	unserer Autos
Dative	-en	unseren Bällen	unseren Brillen	unseren Autos
Accusative	-e	unsere Bälle	unsere Brillen	unsere Autos

Further explanations referring to ‘Possessive pronouns’

The following explanations are related to the topic ‘Possessive pronouns in German grammar’ and may also be helpful:

• Types of German pronouns
• The grammatical case
• The grammatical person
• The grammatical number (singular and plural)