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Possessive adjectives

Whose is it? And why 'tu' has no accent.

Possessives say who owns something: my, your, his, our. In Spanish they go before the noun, and most forms only change with number, not gender. The exceptions are 'our' and 'your' (vuestro), which also show gender.

The full table

mi (my) → mis (my, plural). tu (your, informal) → tus — no accent mark, don't confuse with (the pronoun). su (his/her/their/your formal) → sus. nuestro/nuestra (our) → nuestros/nuestras. vuestro/vuestra (your, plural informal — Spain only) → vuestros/vuestras. su/sus also covers 'your' for ustedes.

Agreement with what's owned

mi and tu don't show gender — only number: mi gato, mi casa, mis gatos, mis casas. nuestro shows both gender and number, because it agrees with the noun: nuestro gato (our cat), nuestra casa (our house), nuestros gatos, nuestras casas.

The catch-all 'su'

su works for él, ella, usted, ellos, ellas, ustedes — meaning it can be 'his', 'her', 'their', or 'your' (formal). Context usually makes it clear. To clarify, you can say: el coche de él (his car), el coche de ellos (their car) — literally 'the car of him'.

Where the possessive sits

Right before the noun, no article: mi amigo (not 'el mi amigo'). If there's an adjective, it goes after: mi amigo nuevo (my new friend).

Examples

mi casa
my house
mi doesn't change for gender.
mis amigos
my friends
mimis (plural).
tu libro
your book
No accent mark. with the accent is 'you'.
su gato
his / her / their / your (formal) cat
Context decides which one.
nuestra casa
our house
casa is feminine → nuestra.
nuestros amigos
our friends
amigos is masculine plural → nuestros.

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