Possessive pronouns (Possessivpronomen) indicate ownership or relationship to someone or something.
Here are examples of predicative possessive pronouns in different cases:
- Das Auto dort ist meiner. (The car over there is mine.) - masculine possessive pronoun
- Das Haus mit dem roten Dach ist unseres. (The house with the red roof is ours.) - neuter possessive pronoun
Difference between Possessive Pronouns and Possessive Articles
- Possessive pronouns replace the noun entirely and function as the subject or object. Example: Dieser Platz ist meiner. (This seat is mine.)
- Possessive articles/determiners precede a noun: They modify the noun that follows. Example: Das ist mein Platz. (That is my seat.)
Basic Possessive Pronouns
Person | Possessive Pronoun | English Equivalent |
ich | meiner / meine / meines | mine |
du | deiner / deine / deines | yours (informal sing.) |
er | seiner / seine / seines | his |
sie (she) | ihrer / ihre / ihres | hers |
es | seiner / seine / seines | its |
wir | unserer / unsere / unseres | ours |
ihr | eurer / eure / eures | yours (informal pl.) |
Sie (formal) | Ihrer / Ihre / Ihres | yours (formal) |
sie (they) | ihrer / ihre / ihres | theirs |
Don’t confuse ihre (her/their) with Ihre (your formal - “I” capitalized)
Declension of Possessive Pronouns
Like adjectives, possessive pronouns change their endings based on gender, number, and case. Here's how mein (my) is declined:
ㅤ | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural |
Nominative | meiner | meine | meines/meins | meine |
Accusative | meinen | meine | meines/meins | meine |
Dative | meinem | meiner | meinem | meinen |
Genitive | meines | meiner | meines | meiner |
Both spellings are allowed in the neuter.
- meins – the shorter, very common form
- meines – a fuller variant that’s equally correct but sounds a bit more formal or emphatic
The same pattern applies to all possessive pronouns except euer, which loses the 'e' before adding an ending (e.g., eure, euren).
Nominative Case
- Der Schlüssel ist meiner. (The key is mine.)
- Das Buch ist seines. (The book is his.)
Accusative Case
- Sie findet seine Schlüssel nicht, nur ihre. (She can't find his keys, only hers.)
- Wir besuchen nicht unsere Eltern, sondern eure. (We are not visiting our parents, but yours.)
Dative Case
- Kannst du meiner Schwester helfen, statt deiner? (Can you help my sister instead of yours?)
- Wir danken nicht unseren Freunden, sondern euren. (We are not thanking our friends, but yours.)
Genitive Case
- Die Farbe deines Hauses ist rot, die meines ist weiß. (The color of your house is red, that of mine is white.)
- Wegen seiner Verspätung mussten wir warten, nicht wegen unserer. (Because of his delay we had to wait, not because of ours.)