Possessive Adjectives
Possessive Adjectives
Spanish possessives — mi, tu, su, and the rest — mostly stay fixed regardless of gender, much like English's my/your/his/her never change either. The one exception, nuestro/nuestra, is the sole place Spanish asks for gender agreement English never asks for.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
mi/tu/su stay fixed for gender — a genuine match with English
mi libro (my book) / mi casa (my house) — mi never changes
my book / my house — 'my' never changes, just like mi
mi, tu, and su don't change for gender at all — mi libro and mi casa both use mi, exactly matching how English 'my' stays the same word whether it's 'my book' or 'my house'. This is one of the more comfortable one-to-one matches in the whole course.
nuestro/nuestra: the one possessive that doesn't match English's habit
nuestro libro (our book, masc.) / nuestra casa (our house, fem.)
our book / our house — English 'our' never changes either way
nuestro ('our') and vuestro ('you-all's') are the only Spanish possessives that change ending to match the gender of the noun they describe — nuestro for masculine, nuestra for feminine. English 'our' stays exactly the same regardless of what follows it, so this is the one possessive form where Spanish asks for something English never does.
Plural nouns need mis/tus/sus — again, unlike English
mis libros (my books) — mi adds -s to match the plural noun
my books — English 'my' still doesn't change
When the possessed noun is plural, mi/tu/su all add -s (mis, tus, sus) to agree — mis libros, not mi libros. English 'my' stays fixed even here ('my books', not 'mys books'), so remembering to also pluralize the possessive word is a Spanish-specific habit with no English shortcut to lean on.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
| Spanish | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| mi | mee | my |
| tu | too | your (informal) |
| su | soo | his / her / your (formal) |
| nuestro / nuestra | noo-EHS-troh / noo-EHS-trah | our |
| mis libros | mees LEE-brohs | my books |