I remember when I first started learning Spanish, one of the most confusing parts was all those
pronouns and little words that looked like pronouns. It was simple enough at the start
when there were just subject pronouns.
Yo. tú. él/ella. Nosotros, vosotros, ellos and ellas. Remember?
If that's not familiar to you, you should go back and watch the video I incorrectly
called Personal Pronouns-it should've been subject pronouns.
But soon came possessive adjectives. The simplest ones after Subject Pronouns. But with two
sets now, a little harder to keep straight.
But it didn't stop there. Oh no. Not even close.
Prepositional pronouns. Look at that!
Then direct object pronouns. So, now for the first person singular we have "yo", "mi" without
the accent. "mí" with the accent and "me". For second person singular we have "tú" with
the accent, "tu" without the accent, "ti" and now "te".
There's still indirect object pronouns too. Did you notice, for the third person, we already
had "él" and "ellos", "ella" and "ellas" then "su" and "sus" then "lo", "los", "la"
and "las". But now "le" and "les".
Phew!
This isn't even one of those things you can just brush aside for later either. They're
all very common and pretty important. Keeping all the words straight is one thing, and not
an easy one. But knowing which one to use when, is a whole other ball game.
The problem is, they were presented to me one at time--like they should be. But were
never compared to one another--like they should be.
So that's exactly what we're going to do here at Gringo Español, starting today. I'm going
to show you one set at a time, then compare what you just learned to what you learned
before.
You'll still get a little confused and make mistakes all the time at first. That's unavoidable.
But this is your best shot at going straight to understanding. Perfection will come with
practice.
Shall we do this? After you...
[intro]
Hola, soy Jordan and this is a Spanish Quickie. Fast, easy Spanish lessons from somebody who
speaks your language.
Possessive adjectives are pretty easy and straightforward--they're used to show ownership.
You know that famous phrase, "mi casa es tu casa"? That means "my house is your house".
Both the "mi" and "tu" or "my" and "your" are possessive adjectives--"my house is your
house".
Here are all the possessive adjectives in Spanish. Let's look for the interesting stuff.
First, "mi" looks a lot like "my" which is what it means. "Mi" is "my". "Mi casa es tu
casa." -- "My house is your house".
Then "tu" is almost exactly like the subject pronoun for that same spot. Take a look. "tú"
with the accent is the subject pronoun, and means "you". Then "tu" without the accent
is the possessive adjective, and means "your". They're both said the same, or basically the
same. I say them the same for sure. So this one's really easy.
Then "su" is used for the third person, for both singular and plural. That's new--the
same word for singular and plural.
Then up here, "nuestro" looks somewhat similar to "nosotros"--the subject pronoun for that
spot. "Nosotros" is "we" and "nuestro" is "our". And "vuestro" in the same way looks
like "vosotros"--the subject pronoun for that spot. "Vosotros" is "you" plural, informal
and "Vuestro" is "your" plural, informal.
Just like with subject pronouns, if you want to say "your" formal, you would use "su".
So, if you're talking to a friend "your book" would be "tu libro" but if you're talking
with a teacher, "your book" would be "su libro".
So a formal way to say the popular phrase from before would be "mi casa es su casa"
or "my house is your house". It means the same thing as "mi casa es tu casa". It's just
more formal.
So, if you don't know the circumstances, "su libro" could mean "his book", "her book" or
"their book" or "your book" even (formal "your"--singular and plural). If any of that doesn't make sense,
you should go back and watch the video called Formal Conjugation.
Looking at all these words in action real quick. "My book" would be "mi libro". "Your
book" is "tu libro". "His book" or "her book" is "su libro". "Our book" is "nuestro libro".
"Your book" (plural, informal--in Spain basically) is "vuestro libro" and "they're book" is "su
libro".
Here's the confusing part. Possessive adjectives have to match, in sex and number, the thing
possessed--not the possessor.
So if the thing possessed is just one book, it works exactly like I just told you. "Book"
is "libro" which is singular and masculine. All the possessive adjectives I just showed
you are singular and masculine.
But "mi", "tu" and "su" all have plural forms too--"mis", "tus" and "sus"--you just add
an S to each word.
So "my books" would be "mis libros". "Books" is now plural--"libros"--and the possessive
adjective has to match "libros" so "mis" instead of "mi".
This was confusing for me at first, and still a little now sometimes. Because at least for
me, instinctually, I feel like it should match the person doing the possessing. But that's
just not the case.
I'm still one person, but there are two books. So "mis libros". Then "your books" is "tus
libros" and "their books" is "sus libros".
Then these last two guys here. And remember, you only have to worry about "vuestro" in
Spain. These two words each have plural forms--like the others. But these two specifically, also
have feminine forms, like their subject pronoun counterparts. "We" can be "nosotros" or "nosotras"
and "you" plural can be "vosotros" or vosotras". If it's two men or a mixed group,
you use "nosotros" and "vosotros", remember? And if it's just females, "nosotras" and "vosotras".
Well, "our" or "nuestro" can be "nuestros" but it can also be "nuestra" or "nuestras".
So four forms total. Then, "your" or "vuestro" can be "vuestros", "vuestra" or "vuestras".
Again, all possessive adjectives match the thing being possessed.
"Our book" is "nuestro libro". But "our store" is "nuestra tienda". You use "nuestra" instead
of "nuestro" here because "tienda" is feminine.
"Our books" would be "nuestros libros" and "our stores" would be "nuestras tiendas".
That's it! Not so bad right? It just gets more and more confusing as the different forms
pile up. My two pieces of advice are.
Number one. Learn these as well as possible now, as you encounter them. That way, they'll
be more familiar and you'll be able to better recognize and remember the differences.
Number two. Don't worry about this too much. Learn it as well as you can for sure. But
if you mess up, don't worry. That'll almost never stop you from being understood.
Saying "mi" instead of "yo" or "yo" instead of "mi" is essentially an "I" Vs. "my" thing--you
wanna be correct, but it's not a huge deal right now. If a 7 year old came up to you
and said, "my love you"--you'd understand them right?
To help you get this down and keep it all straight, I created a Practice Worksheet for
you. Go to gringoespanol.com/quickies/possessive-adjectives. That link is also below this video. Download
the practice sheet and do it. The Answer Key is also at that link.
First, you'll practice using the different possessive adjectives you just learned, then
I mix it all up with subject pronouns, so you can practice choosing which to use when.
In the meantime, if you liked this video, please LIKE it or give me the big thumbs up.
That's how I know I did a good job, and I should do more of the same.
And have you signed up for the Gringo Español newsletter yet? If not, go to gringoespanol.com/free-updates
right now. I'm releasing my new travel spanish training program soon, and subscribers to
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I'll see you next time. Hasta luego. Adiós amigo.