Spanish Possessive Adjectives: Saying Who Things Belong To

Spanish possessive adjectives: saying who things belong to

Possessive adjectives help you say that a person, family member, or thing belongs to or is connected with someone. In English, common examples are “my,” “your,” “his,” “her,” “our,” and “their.”

In Spanish, the most useful basic possessive adjectives are mi, tu, su, nuestro, and vuestro. They appear directly before the noun they describe.

• mi hermano — my brother
• tu hermana — your sister
• su casa — his / her / your / their house
• nuestro hotel — our hotel

Using mi and mis for “my”

Use mi — my before one noun and mis — my before more than one noun.

• mi madre — my mother
• mi padre — my father
• mi libro — my book
• mis padres — my parents
• mis hermanos — my siblings / brothers
• mis libros — my books

The choice between mi and mis depends on whether the noun is singular or plural.

Using tu and tus for informal singular “your”

Use tu — your before one noun when speaking informally to one person. Use tus — your before more than one noun.

• tu madre — your mother
• tu hermano — your brother
• tu teléfono — your phone
• tus padres — your parents
• tus hermanas — your sisters
• tus libros — your books

Do not confuse tu — your with tú — you. The pronoun tú has a written accent, while the possessive adjective tu does not.

• Tú eres estudiante. — You are a student.
• Tu hermana es estudiante. — Your sister is a student.

Using su and sus

Use su — his / her / your / their before one noun and sus — his / her / your / their before more than one noun.

• su madre — his / her / your / their mother
• su padre — his / her / your / their father
• su dirección — his / her / your / their address
• sus padres — his / her / your / their parents
• sus hijos — his / her / your / their children
• sus libros — his / her / your / their books

Su and sus can refer to several different owners. The surrounding conversation normally tells you whether the meaning is his, her, your with usted or ustedes, or their.

Using context to understand su

Compare these examples:

Person A: Ella es Marta. Su hermano es Luis. — She is Marta. Her brother is Luis.

Because Marta is the person already being discussed, su hermano — her brother is understood as Marta’s brother.

Person A: Él es Carlos. Su madre es Ana. — He is Carlos. His mother is Ana.

Here, su madre — his mother refers to Carlos because he is the person in context.

If the context is not clear enough, Spanish can use a name or another expression to remove the ambiguity. For now, your main goal is to recognize that su itself does not tell you whether the owner is male or female.

Using nuestro and nuestra for “our”

Unlike mi, tu, and su, the forms of nuestro — our change for both gender and number of the noun that follows.

• nuestro padre — our father
• nuestra madre — our mother
• nuestro libro — our book
• nuestra casa — our house
• nuestros padres — our parents
• nuestras hermanas — our sisters

Use nuestro with a masculine singular noun, nuestra with a feminine singular noun, nuestros with a masculine plural noun, and nuestras with a feminine plural noun.

The possessive agrees with the thing possessed

This is an important Spanish pattern: the form of the possessive adjective matches the noun that comes after it, not the gender of the person who owns it.

• nuestro padre — our father
• nuestra madre — our mother
• nuestros libros — our books
• nuestras casas — our houses

The change from nuestro to nuestra happens because padre — father is masculine and madre — mother is feminine. The people who mean “our” do not determine that gender change.

Recognizing vuestro and vuestra

In varieties that use vosotros and vosotras for informal plural “you,” the corresponding possessive adjective is vuestro — your. Like nuestro, it changes for gender and number.

• vuestro padre — your father
• vuestra madre — your mother
• vuestros libros — your books
• vuestras casas — your houses

If your main variety uses ustedes instead of vosotros, you will usually use su or sus for plural “your.” You should still recognize vuestro and its forms when you encounter Spanish from Spain.

Possessive adjectives normally replace the article

In the basic noun phrases in this lesson, do not put el, la, los, or las directly before mi, tu, su, nuestro, or vuestro.

• mi hermano — my brother
• tu casa — your house
• su libro — his / her / your / their book
• nuestra madre — our mother

Learn the possessive adjective as the word that directly introduces the noun in these basic phrases.

Talking about family relationships

Possessive adjectives are especially useful with the family vocabulary from the previous lesson.

• Mi madre es médica. — My mother is a doctor.
• Tu hermano es estudiante. — Your brother is a student.
• Su padre es profesor. — His / her / your / their father is a teacher.
• Nuestra hermana es estudiante. — Our sister is a student.
• Nuestros abuelos son de España. — Our grandparents are from Spain.

These sentences combine possessive adjectives with ser and vocabulary you already know.

Talking about everyday things

You can use the same possessive system with objects and contact details.

• mi libro — my book
• tu teléfono — your phone
• su correo electrónico — his / her / your / their email address
• nuestra casa — our house
• nuestros libros — our books

The grammar works the same way whether the noun is a person or a thing.

Choosing the correct possessive form

Owner	Singular noun	Plural noun
yo — I	mi — my	mis — my
tú — you	tu — your	tus — your
él / ella / usted — he / she / you	su — his / her / your	sus — his / her / your
nosotros / nosotras — we	nuestro / nuestra — our	nuestros / nuestras — our
vosotros / vosotras — you	vuestro / vuestra — your	vuestros / vuestras — your
ellos / ellas / ustedes — they / you	su — their / your	sus — their / your

For mi, tu, and su, only singular versus plural changes the form. Nuestro and vuestro also change to match the grammatical gender of the noun.

A short family description with possessives

Read this description and identify who each family member belongs to:

Me llamo Ana. Mi hermano es Luis. Nuestra madre es Elena. Nuestro padre es Carlos. Nuestros abuelos son de México. — My name is Ana. My brother is Luis. Our mother is Elena. Our father is Carlos. Our grandparents are from Mexico.

Mi hermano — my brother presents Luis from Ana’s point of view. Nuestra madre — our mother and nuestro padre — our father show that Ana and Luis share the same parents in this description.

From possession to introducing other people

You can now use mi, mis, tu, tus, su, sus, nuestro, nuestra, nuestros, nuestras, and recognize the corresponding vuestro forms to say who people and things belong to. The next lesson uses family relationships and personal information to introduce other people in Spanish.