Mein, dein, unser – Possessive Adjectives in German

Today we’re going to talk about possessive adjectives. Some English examples include: MY, YOUR or THEIR. In German we have two separate forms: one for masculine and neuter gender and one for feminine gender.

The Forms of Possessive Adjectives

Let’s start with the forms of possessive adjectives. Here they are in nominative case:

MASCULINE	FEMININE	NEUTER	PLURAL
mein Tisch	meine Lampe	mein Haus	meine Tische, Lampen, Häuser	my table(s), lamp(s), house(s)
dein Tisch	deine Lampe	dein Haus	deine Tische, Lampen, Häuser	your table(s), lamp(s), house(s) (informal)
sein Tisch	seine Lampe	sein Haus	seine Tische, Lampen, Häuser	his table(s), lamp(s), house(s)
ihr Tisch	ihre Lampe	ihr Haus	ihre Tische, Lampen, Häuser	her table(s), lamp(s), house(s)
sein Tisch	seine Lampe	sein Haus	seine Tische, Lampen, Häuser	its table(s), lamp(s), house(s)
unser Tisch	unsere Lampe	unser Haus	unsere Tische, Lampen, Häuser	our table(s), lamp(s), house(s)
euer Tisch	eure Lampe	euer Haus	eure Tische, Lampen, Häuser	your table(s), lamp(s), house(s)
ihr Tisch	ihre Lampe	ihr Haus	ihre Tische, Lampen, Häuser	their table(s), lamp(s), house(s)
Ihr Tisch	Ihre Lampe	Ihr Haus	Ihre Tische, Lampen, Häuser	your table(s), lamp(s), house(s) (formal)

Examples

We can use possessive adjectives to describe ownership or relationship. Here are some examples:

Das ist mein Stuhl.	This is my chair.
Das ist seine Tochter.	This is his daughter.
Das ist unser Vater.	This is our father.
Eure Kinder sind klein.	Your children are small.
Wie ist Ihr Haus?	What is your house like? (formal)
Was ist dein Vater von Beruf?	What is your father? What’s your father’s job? (informal)
Sein Nachbar arbeitet hier.	His neighbor works here.
Eure Nachbarin spricht deutsch.	Your neighbor speaks German.
Sein Hund bewegt sich schnell.	His dog is moving fast.

Ambiguities

Some forms are ambiguous. Their meaning depends on the context. Have a look at the following sentence:

Ihr Freund heißt Albert.

This could mean:

Her friend’s name is Albert.

or

Your friend’s name is Albert. (formal)

or

Their friend’s name is Albert.