Chapter 6   --   Possession

It is often necessary to state who owns something, or who has possession of something.
We say “my car”, “your book”, “his computer”, and so forth.
In English, we express possession by using words such as my, your, his, hers, and so on.
In Spanish, the words which express the concept of   possession are as follows.

          1. When used before a noun (the so called “short” forms)

  Singular                                                      Plural                                  English         

mi mis my
tu tus your (familiar singular)
su sus his, hers, its, your ( polite singular)
nuestra, -o nuestras, -os our
vuestra, -o vuestras, -os your (familiar plural)
su sus their or your (polite plural)

examples :

mi libro my book   mis libros my books
tu disco your disk tus discos your disks
su zapato his shoe sus zapatos his shoes
nuestro dinero our money nuestras plantas our plants
vuestra casa your house vuestras frutas your fruits
su palabra their word sus problemas their problems

          2. When used after a noun (the so called “long” forms)

Singular                              Plural                                    English

mía, -o mías, -os my, mine
tuya, -o tuyas, -os your, yours (familiar singular)
suya, -o suyas, -os his, hers, its, yours ( polite singular)
nuestra, -o nuestras, -os our, ours
vuestra, -o vuestras, -os your, yours (familiar plural)
suya , -o suyas, - os their, theirs, your, yours

            examples:    Helen is a cousin of yours.       Elena es una prima tuya .

                             Frank is a friend of mine.          Franco es un amigo mío.

The Spanish form of the English ‘s is the use of the preposition de.

example    John’s book = el libro de Juan

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Sometimes, possessive forms are used to refer to persons or things.   For example, “This house is smaller than ours.”
The word “ours” is used to refer to the house we own.   Such expressions are translated by combining an article and a long form.
The article refers to the thing, and agrees in number and gender with the thing to which it refers.

        English                               Spanish

          mine                                el mío, los míos, la mía, las mías

          yours                               el tuyo, los tuyos, la tuya, las tuyas

          his, hers, yours                el suyo, los suyos, la suya, las suyas

          ours                                el nuestro, los nuestros, la nuestra, las nuestras

          yours                              el vuestro, los vuestros, la vuestra, las vuestras

          theirs, yours                    el suyo, los suyo, la suya, las suyas

 

examples:   

These books are mine. Estos libros son los míos.
My car is newer than yours. Mi carro es más nuevo que el tuyo.
Our house is bigger than his. Nuestra casa es más grande que la suya.
Her plants yield more than ours.  Sus plantas rinden más que las nuestras.
This disk is not mine. Este disco no es el mío.
Is this bicycle yours? ¿Es esta bicicleta la suya?

 

This book is available from lulu.com under item number 3352644. Books purchased from Lulu are accompanied by a complete list of irregular verbs and all of their forms.

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