Possessive adjectives in German

Possessives are words indicate that something belongs to somebody (e.g. in English: my, your, her).

Possessive adjectives

Possessives adjectives are used in a similar way in English and in German. Use the male pronoun “his” to indicate that it belongs to male person. If something belongs to a female person, you take the female pronoun “her”.
The problem: In German, the endings of possessive adjectives must agree in gender and case with the noun that they are linked to, but endings follow some pattern.
  • In the nominative case, the possessive have no endings for masculine and neuter nouns. If it is feminine or plural, “-e” is added to the possessive.
  • In the dative case, the possessive takes the endings -em when referring to masculine and neuter nouns and -er if the noun is feminine. In the plural add “-en”.
  • In the accusative case, the possessive adds “-en” when it appears before a masculine noun. The feminine and plural forms take an extra “-e”.

Overview

Ending of adjectives in German
Examples: Possessive adjectives are mein, dein, unser, euer ….

German “mein” (eng. my):

Endings of adjectives in German example
Other possessive adjectives:

  • ein (German) – a/an (English)
  • dein (German) -your (English)
  • sein (German) – his/its (English)
  • ihr (German) – her (English)
  • unser (German) – our (English)
  • euer (German) – your (English)
  • ihr (German) – their (English)
  • kein (German) -no/not any (English)

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Autor: , Letzte Aktualisierung: 18. Januar 2023