Possessive determiners
Possessives say whose: mein (my), dein (your, informal), sein (his / its), ihr (her / their), unser (our), euer (your, plural informal), Ihr (your, formal). They all behave exactly like ein: same set of endings, plus they add -en for masculine accusative — just like einen / keinen / meinen. Master one, you've mastered them all.
The eight possessives
mein — my (matches ich). dein — your, talking to one friend (matches du). sein — his (matches er); also 'its' for masculine/neuter nouns. ihr — her (matches sie = she), AND their (matches sie = they). unser — our (matches wir). euer — your, plural informal (matches ihr). Ihr — your, formal (matches Sie, capitalized). Memorize each one with its matching pronoun.
ein-word endings
Possessives are 'ein-words': they take exactly the endings of ein. Nominative: mein Bruder (m.), meine Schwester (f.), mein Kind (n.), meine Eltern (pl.). Accusative: only the masculine adds -en — meinen Bruder, meine Schwester, mein Kind, meine Eltern. Ich liebe meinen Bruder. Sie sieht ihre Schwester. Wir haben unsere Bücher.
sein vs ihr — don't get them backwards
sein = HIS (or 'its' for a masculine/neuter thing — das Haus und sein Garten = 'the house and its garden'). ihr = HER or THEIR — same word for both, context decides. So 'his mother' = seine Mutter, but 'her mother' = ihre Mutter. Common English-speaker mistake: saying seine Mutter when you mean 'her mother'. Match the possessive to the OWNER, not to the noun.
unser and euer — the awkward ones
unser and euer are the only possessives whose stem ends in -er, which makes the feminine and plural forms a mouthful. unser Bruder, unsere Schwester, unser Kind, unsere Eltern. With euer, the e of the stem usually drops when an ending is added: euer Bruder, eure Schwester (not euere), euer Kind, eure Eltern. Don't worry about getting euer perfect at A1 — just recognize it.
Family vocab
die Mutter (mother) — pl. die Mütter. der Vater (father) — pl. die Väter. die Eltern (parents — only plural in German). der Bruder (brother) — pl. die Brüder. die Schwester (sister) — pl. die Schwestern. das Kind (child) — pl. die Kinder. der Sohn (son) — pl. die Söhne. die Tochter (daughter) — pl. die Töchter. der Mann also = husband; die Frau also = wife. der Freund = boyfriend / male friend; die Freundin = girlfriend / female friend — context decides.
