18 Los adjetivos posesivos

Los adjetivos posesivos

Lo mío es tuyo y lo tuyo es mío (what’s yours is mine and what’s mine is yours)

¿Qué piensas? ¿Te gusta compartir? Mi libro…tu libro…

Mi hamburguesa… tu hamburguesa… Mi casa… tu casa…

Mi novia…tu novia… Mi carro… tu carro….

The use of these adjectives is similar between English and Spanish, with the exception that Spanish has plural forms, but English doesn’t.

Possessive adjectives, like descriptive adjectives, are used to qualify people, places, or things. Possessive adjectives express the quality of ownership or possession. Possessive adjectives have to agree in gender and number with the noun.

Two types of possessive adjectives, one type goes before the noun, and the other type goes after the noun.

Possessive adjectives appear immediately before a noun and they agree in number with the noun. If the noun that follows is singular, use the singular form of the possessive adjective. If the noun is plural, then a plural possessive adjective must be used:

Singular and Plural Possessive Adjectives

The nuestro and vuestro forms will agree with the noun that follows in both number (sing./pl.) and gender (m./f). It doesn’t matter who is speaking, or to whom one is speaking to; what controls the use of the masculine and feminine forms is whether the noun itself is masculine or feminine.

Nuestro and vuestro agreement

OJO: Vuestro (your) and its variances are used in Spain only. In the Spanish of the Americas, su/sus (your) is used.

Su and sus have multiple meanings

When the context is clear there generally isn’t any ambiguity. For example, if we have been talking about my friend Lorena’s class schedule and I say “her English class is at nine”, I could simply say “su clase de inglés es a las nueve” and there wouldn’t be any confusion—you would know that “su” refers to Lorena. But without any real context the same phrase “su clase de inglés es a las nueve” could have several meanings: “his-her-your (formal)-their…class”. If you want to avoid possible confusion, use the following structure:

To clarify ambiguity of su/sus

Clarifying su/sus examples

Equivalent of ’s

OJO: In English, we use an apostrophe “s” to show possession (John’s class), but apostrophes do not exist in Spanish. Spanish does the following instead:

More examples:

A final note: when talking directly to one person and addressing him or her in the Ud. form, you could use “su/sus” to express “your”. But notice that the same forms in Spanish are used if you want to express “your” and are addressing a group of people. Again, the singular/plural agreement occurs between “su” and the noun that follows it:

Su and Sus meaning “your” examples:

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Actividad 27. Adjetivos posesivos

Instructions: Indicate the correct possessive adjective to complete each sentence.

• Modelo: ________ (Our) clase es muy divertida.
• Nuestra clase es muy divertida.

1. Es _____________ (Her) libro.
2. _____________ (Our) profesoras son simpáticas.
3. _____________ (My) clase es interesante.
4. _____________ (Their) piano es grande.
5. Son _____________ (Your, plural, formal) bolígrafos.
6. Son _____________ (Your, singular, informal) composiciones.
7. _____________ (My) amigos son puertorriqueños.
8. Es _____________ (Your, plural, formal) universidad.
9. _____________ (Your, singular, informal) amigo es generoso.
10. _____________ (His) apartamento es atractivo.

Actividad 28. Las posesiones de las personas

Instructions: State what each person below has, using the verb tener and the appropriate possessive pronoun.

• Modelo: Samuel
• Samuel tiene su lápiz.

• Tu y yo ________________________
  
  

  

• Él __________________________________

• Mi amigo _____________________________

• Tú _____________________________

• Esteban y Juana _____________________________________

• Yo ______________________________________

Actividad 29. Nuevos encuentros

Instructions: Think of at least four questions using possessive pronouns that you would ask a new roommate when meeting them for the first time. Ask your partner these questions, and write down their answers using appropriate possessives. Each of you will take turns doing this. Then, pretend you are meeting a new professor for the first time, and repeat the process. Make sure you use the appropriate possessive adjectives! Be prepared to share your partner’s answers with the class.

Modelo: (speaking to new roommate): ¿Cuál es tu número de teléfono?

Vocabulario útil: dirección electrónica, número de teléfono, clase favorita, actor favorito, autor favorito, familia

1. ________________________________________________________
2. ________________________________________________________
3. ________________________________________________________
4. ________________________________________________________

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Actividad 30. Los adjetivos posesivos.

Instructions: Fill in the blanks with the correct possessive adjectives.

• ¿Cómo se llama tu madre?
  • ____________ madre se llama Juanita.
• ¿Quiénes son estos chicos?
  • Los chicos son ____________ hermanos. (my)
• ¿Dónde vive la familia de María?
  • ____________ familia vive en Salamanca.
• ¿Cómo se llaman los perros de Juan y Carlos?
  • ____________ perros se llaman Bobo y Toto.
• ¿De dónde es mi padre?
  • ____________ padre es de Madrid.
• ¿Son estos chicos de vuestro colegio? (“Are these guys are from our school?”)
  • Sí, estos chicos son de ____________ colegio.
• ¿Cómo están tus compañeras?
  • ____________ compañeras están bien.
• ¿Estás bien?
  • No, ____________ brazo está roto.

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