A possessive pronoun is a word that replaces a noun and indicates the

possessor of that noun. Possessive comes from possess, to own.

Whose house is that? It’s mine.

Mine is a pronoun that replaces the words “my house” and shows who

possesses the house.

IN ENGLISH

Here is a list of the possessive pronouns.

Singular

1St person mine

2nd person yours

I his

3rd person hers

its

Plural

1st person ours

2nd person yours

3rd person theirs

Possessive pronouns never change their form, regardless of the thing

possessed; they refer primarily to the possessor.

Is that your house? Yes, it’s mine.

Are those your keys? Yes, they’re mine.

The same possessive pronoun (mine) is used, although the objects pos-

sessed are different in number (house is singular, keys is plural).

John’s car is blue. His is blue.

Mary’s car is blue. Hers is blue.

Although the object possessed is the same (car), the possessive pro-

noun is different because the possessor is different (John is masculine

singular; Mary is feminine singular).

IN SPANISH

The possessive pronouns have the same forms as the stressed posses-

sive adjectives (see p. 109 in What is a Possessive Adjective?). Like

English, a Spanish possessive pronoun refers to the possessor, but

unlike English, it must agree, like all Spanish pronouns, in gender and

number with its antecedent. Therefore, there are masculine and femi-

nine forms in both the singular and plural.