Possessive pronouns take the place of a possessive adjective + noun: mi libro, my book; el mío, mine; mi pluma, my pen, la mía, mine, etc. | ||||
Singular | Plural | |||
el mío | la mía | los míos | las mías | mine |
el tuyo | la tuya | los tuyos | las tuyas | yours (fam. sing.) |
el nuestro | la nuestra | los nuestros | las nuestras | ours |
el vuestro | la vuestra | los vuestros | las vuestras | yours (fam. pl.) |
el suyo | la suya | los suyos | las suyas | his, hers, its, yours, theirs |
a. Possessive pronouns must agree in gender and number with the noun it replace. | |||
Alicia tiene sus llaves, pero Roberto no tiene las suyas. | |||
Alicia has her keys, but Robert doesn't have his. | |||
b. The definite articles el, la, los, las, are always used with the possessive pronouns, except after ser. They may be used after ser for emphasis. | |||
Poss. Adjective | Poss. Pronoun | ||
Es mi coche | It's my car | Es mío / Es el mío | It's mine |
Es su casa | It's his house | Es suya / Es la suya | It's his |
Es nuestra comida | It's our food | Es nuestra / Es la nuestra | It's ours |
Son vuestras camisas | They're our blouses | Son vuestras / Son las vuestras | They're yours |
Son tus discos compactos | They're your CDs | Son tuyos / Son los tuyos | They're yours |
c. For the sake of clarity, a prepositional phrase, de + el, ella, usted, ellos(-as), ustedes, is often used with the appropriate definite article in place of el suyo, la suya, los suyos, las suyas. | |
Vamos a poner mis discos y los de María. | We're going to play my records and María's. |
becomes |
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Vamos a poner los míos y los de ella. | We're going to play my records (mine) and hers. |
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