Spanish: An Essential Grammar

Note: In contrast with English, the Spanish possessive adjective is repeated before

each noun in a list, except where they refer to the same person or thing, or to parts

of the same overall concept: Tu primo y tu tío vivieron en Jaén‘Your cousin and

uncle lived in Jaén’, but mi colega y amigo, el Sr. Ortiz‘my colleague and friend

Mr Ortiz’, mis libros y artículos‘my books and articles’.

Possessive adjectives after the noun

The following ‘strong’ or ‘stressed’ forms are used after a noun:

Subject pronoun Possessive adjective

yo mío/-os/-a/-as mine

tú, vos[LA] tuyo/-os/-a/-as yours

él/ella/usted suyo/-os/-a/-as his/hers/yours

nosotros/-as nuestro/-os/-a/-as ours

vosotros/-as[SP] vuestro/-os/-a/-as[SP] yours

ellos/ellas/ustedes suyo/-os/-a/-as theirs/yours

All the strong possessive adjectives agree in number and gender with the

noun possessed. They can be used after a noun with meanings such as ‘of

mine’, ‘of yours’:

unos libros míos some books of mine

aquella propuesta tuya that proposal of yours

After serthe indefinite article may be omitted before the noun unless the

noun is qualified: Es amigo nuestro‘he’s a friend of ours’, but Es un amigo

nuestro que no conoces‘he’s a friend of ours you don’t know’.

The strong forms may also be used without a noun, especially after ser. In

this case they mean ‘mine’, ‘yours’ etc.:

Ese bolso es mío. That bag is mine.

Vamos a abrirlos – son Let’s open them – they’re ours.

nuestros.

Note: The strong possessives are also used in the formulas Muy señor mío ‘Dear

Sir’ and Queridos amigos míos‘Dear friends’ (in correspondence), as well as in a

number of set phrases such as a costa mía‘to my cost’, por culpa suya ‘because of

him’,al lado mío ‘by my side’.

5.2

1111

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

1011

1

12111

3 4 5 6 7 8 9

20111

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

30111

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

40

41111

5

Possessive
adjectives

48