- Das ist mein Buch.”
The book belongs to me and therefore I used the possessive adjective that describes the
book in such a way.
In German we use these in a similar way and they follow similar patterns to those in English,
but the main difference is, of course, that German has genders and cases.
This means we have to use the correct endings on our possessive adjectives in German to
make sure that they follow the gender and case rules.
Throughout this video I will be showing a variety of graphics and charts.
If you would like to download a copy of these things, you can do that for free via the link
in the description.
Before we get too deep into this topic, we need to clear up a bit of confusion around
the terminology.
In English “possessive pronouns” are the words that show possession, but don’t have
a noun behind them.
For example: mine, yours, hers, etc.
A possessive adjective, however, is one that is exclusively used with a noun.
For example: my book, your car, her shoe, etc.
In German the word “Possessivpronomen” would literally translate as “possessive
pronouns”.
The German word “Possessivpronomen”, however, refers to both of the possessive word categories
that we in English call, possessive pronouns and possessive adjectives.
This is why you will occasionally find online references to something called “Possessivartikel”.
These are specifically the words used in front of nouns, which excludes the ones that can
stand on their own.
That is the topic of today.
I am not talking about “pure Possessivpronomen”, but rather the subcategory of “Possessivpronomen”
sometimes called “Possessivartikel”.
First let’s start with the base of all possessive adjectives.
You are already aware that there are nine personal pronouns in the nominative case in
German.
ich, du, er, sie, es, wir, ihr, sie, Sie.
Each of these pronouns have a corresponding possessive adjective that is used to indicate
the owner or one in possession of an object.
For example: If “ich” owns something, we use “mein”.
If “du” owns something, we use “dein”.
To illustrate this further and to introduce you to all of the possessive adjectives, here
are a few examples.
Ich habe einen Bruder.
Das ist mein Bruder.
- I have a brother.
This is my brother.
Du hast eine Schwester.
Das ist deine Schwester.
- You have a sister.
This is your sister.
Quick Side Note: The E at the end of “dein” is used to indicate that “Schwester” is
a feminine noun just like you would if you said “a sister” (eine Schwester).
These endings will change based on the case and gender of the noun.
You may notice that in the first example, I didn’t have an ending at all on “mein”,
I simply said “mein Bruder”.
That’s because “Bruder” is a masculine noun and is used in the nominative case.
If I said “a brother” instead of “my brother” in that sentence, it would be “Das
ist ein Bruder.”
Ok.
Now back to the examples.
Er hat zwei Cousins.
Das sind seine Cousins.
- He has two cousins.
These are his cousins.
Sie hat einen Onkel.
Das ist ihr Onkel.
- She has an uncle.
This is her uncle.
Es hat eine Mähne.
Das ist seine Mähne.
- It has a mane.
This is its mane.
Wir haben eine Wohnung.
Das ist unsere Wohnung.
- We have an apartment.
This is our apartment.
Ihr habt ein Haus.
Das ist euer Haus.
- You have a house.
This is your house.
Sie haben ein Boot.
Das ist ihr Boot.
- They have a boat.
This is their boat.
Sie haben ein Boot.
Das ist Ihr Boot.
- You have a boat.
This is your boat.
Side Note #2: You probably noticed that there are three possessive adjectives spelled I-H-R.
The possessive for feminine singular third person is “ihr”.
The possessive for plural third person is “ihr”.
The possessive for singular or plural second person formal is “Ihr”.
The only one that is remotely different is the formal one, as it is capitalized.
I personally find this to be helpful as you can simply remember “If I would use ‘sie’
as a pronoun in the nominative case for this person or thing, I use ‘ihr’ to show they
possess something.”
It doesn’t matter if it is “her”, “their” or “your”.
They all use the German possessive adjective “ihr”.
Another one that is duplicated is “his” and “its”.
They are both translated with “sein” in German.
So our full list of possessive adjectives is: mein, dein, sein, ihr, sein, unser, euer,
ihr, Ihr.
I always put them in this order if you are going to use a chart, as this is the same
order you use for the personal pronouns (ich, du, er, sie, es, etc) and this kind of continuity
is helpful when used as a frame of reference.
Now for the part about the endings.
If you remember my video about the dative case, you will recall the ein-words and their
endings.
They are all essentially “ein” and most of the time you add a letter or two to the
end of that.
As a quick reminder, that chart looked like this:
I also mentioned in that other video that I put (k) in front of “ein” in the plural
forms.
This is to indicate that you can’t use “eine” or “einen” in the plural, but you can
use things that act like “ein-words”, such as “kein” or the possessive adjectives
on today’s list.
That’s exactly what we are going to do now.
Instead of looking at the chart as ein + an ending, use the possessive adjective as the
base and then add those same letters you would for “ein” to match the case and gender.
Here is a more concrete example of what I mean.
Das ist mein Bruder.
- This is my brother.
The possessive adjective is “mein”.
I didn’t add any letters to the end of that, because it is used in the nominative case
and “Bruder” is a masculine noun.
Sie mag meinen Bruder.
- She likes my brother.
The possessive adjective is still “mein”, but this time I added -en to the end of it
to show the accusative masculine form, as “Bruder” is the direct object of the sentence
and therefore accusative.
Sie geht mit meinem Bruder ins Kino.
- She is going to the movies with my brother.
Again, the possessive adjective is “mein”.
Since “mit” is a preposition that requires the dative case, I used the dative masculine
ending -em.
Viewing the chart like this makes it so you can substitute in whatever word you mean to
say with the ending that matches the case and gender of the noun.
If you want to say “a” or “an”, use “ein” plus those endings.
If you want to say “my”, use “mein” plus those endings.
You can continue to do this for the other possessive adjectives, too.
There is one little odd bit that you should be aware of.
When you say “y’all’s” in German, “euer”, you will remove the E before R
if there is an ending after the R. So instead of “euere”, you say “eure”.
Instead of “euerem”, you say “eurem”.
It isn’t just when speaking.
You also write all versions of “euer” that have an ending without the E before the
R. Something similar happens with “unser”.
Instead of “unsere”, you often hear “unsre”.
While this is very common in speaking, it is NOT considered correct to remove those
E’s in the various versions of “unser”.
Bottom Line: When Speaking - Removing the extra E is OK
for both “unser” and “euer” when there is an ending.
Keeping the extra E is ONLY acceptable for forms of “unser”.
When Writing - ONLY remove the extra E with forms of “euer” + an ending.
All forms of “unser” should be written WITH the E in front of the R.
Let’s take a look at some more examples to make sure you get the concept and after
that I’ll give you an opportunity to try it out on your own.
Since it is more memorable when you have something to watch, I’ll do these examples as a short
skit based on real conversations I have in class.
Teacher: Good morning, students.
Take out your books.
Open your books to page 245.
Student: (He raises his hand.)
I don’t have my book.
May I go to my locker to get my book?
Teacher: Yes, are there other students, who do not have their books with them?
Students (in chorus): Yes.
We don’t have our books either.
Teacher: All of the students can’t go to their lockers at the same time.
How many students have their book?
(He mumbles numbers.)
Ok.
Half of the students have a book.
So, if you don’t have a book, you may share with your neighbor (male) or your neighbor
(female).
Then you can simply read from his or her book.
Student: My book doesn’t have page 245.
Someone tore that page out of my book.
Teacher: Well.
Stuff like this happens when the books are older than the teachers.
I will just write the sentences on the board.
Then you don’t need your books.
You will, however, need a piece of paper and a pencil.
Student: May I sharpen my pencil?
Teacher: Yes.
Student: Do you have a piece of paper, that I can borrow?
Teacher: Yes.
There is paper in my desk drawer.
Student: In your desk drawer?
Teacher: Yes.
There.
Student: Where is your desk?
Teacher: … (He looks confused.)
Student: Oh.
You mean this desk.
Teacher: Oh my goodness.
Alright, now that you know the daily frustrations of a high school teacher, let’s get to the
interactive portion of today’s lesson.
On the screen you will see 10 sentences.
Each of them is missing a possessive adjective.
I gave you the English translation in parentheses, so you can start by translating that.
Then you have to choose the correct ending based on the case and gender of the noun after
the possessive adjective.
Write your answers in the comments.
If you like the charts and other graphics I used in this video, you can download them
for free via the link in the description.
If you want more practice with the possessive adjectives in German, you can download a worksheet
with answer key via my website, germanwithantrim.com.
Alternatively you can join all of these awesome people on Patreon or by clicking the “Join”
button below this video and choosing the “Deutschlerner level”.
Das ist alles für heute.
Danke fürs Zuschauen.
Bis zum nächsten Mal.
Tschüss.