German Possessive Pronouns: Get to Know the Possessivpronomen

German possessive pronouns stand in for a noun: Das ist mein Schlüssel. Ist das deiner? — That is my key. Is that yours? Their endings tell you the gender, number and case of the thing being referred to.

There are two decisions to make: choose a stem for the owner, then choose an ending for the noun the pronoun replaces. German has three grammatical genders (masculine, feminine and neuter), plus plural forms, and four cases. Plural is a number, not a fourth gender.

Possessive articles and independent pronouns

Before a noun, mein works as a possessive article: mein Hund — my dog. Without that noun, the independent pronoun needs the appropriate ending: Das ist meiner. — That is mine. The stem mein- alone is not a complete translation of “mine” in every context.

Formal Sie and its possessive forms Ihr, Ihre, Ihrer are capitalized. Lowercase ihr- can mean “her” or “their”; context identifies the owner. With endings, euer- usually becomes eur-: eure, eurer, eurem, euren.

How to choose the ending

The stem identifies the owner. The ending agrees with the thing possessed. In Diese Katze ist seine. — This cat is his, sein- points to a male owner and -e agrees with feminine die Katze. The owner’s gender does not change the cat’s grammatical gender.

Case comes from the pronoun’s role in its own sentence, or from the verb or preposition governing it. Use nominative for a subject, accusative for many direct objects, and dative after verbs such as helfen or prepositions such as mit. Learn verbs and prepositions together with their cases.

Nominative: mine, yours, his and hers

The short neuter forms meins, deins and seins are common. The full forms meines, deines and seines are also possible. The noun should already be clear from context:

• Hier sind zwei Schlüssel. Das ist meiner. — Here are two keys. That one is mine. (der Schlüssel)
• Dieses Buch ist ihres. — This book is hers/theirs. (das Buch)
• Diese Katze ist nicht seine. — This cat is not his. (die Katze)
• Diese Bücher sind deine. — These books are yours. (plural)

Accusative: the masculine ending changes

Compared with nominative, only the masculine form changes: meiner becomes meinen. The neuter, feminine and plural forms stay the same. For the other owners, use deinen, seinen, ihren, unseren, euren or formal Ihren.

• Ich habe meinen Schlüssel dabei. Hast du deinen vergessen? — I have my key with me. Did you forget yours? Here deinen replaces singular Schlüssel, not plural “keys.”
• Dieses Geschenk ist für dein Kind. Jenes ist für meines. — This gift is for your child. That one is for mine. Für takes accusative.
• Ich suche meine Tasche. Suchst du deine auch? — I’m looking for my bag. Are you looking for yours too?
• Wir haben unsere Schuhe mitgebracht. Habt ihr eure mitgebracht? — We brought our shoes. Did you bring yours?

Dative: -em, -er and -en

Dative is used for many indirect objects, after dative verbs, and after dative prepositions such as aus, bei, mit, nach, seit, von and zu. Two-way prepositions depend on the construction: auf takes dative in the following example of location.

• Dein Stuhl ist kaputt. Du kannst auf unserem sitzen. — Your chair is broken. You can sit on ours.
• Mein Handy funktioniert. Ich rufe mit meinem an. — My phone works. I’ll call using mine.
• Ich fahre mit meiner Schwester. Fährst du mit deiner? — I’m going with my sister. Are you going with yours?
• Unsere Freunde warten schon. Wir gehen mit euren. — Our friends are already waiting. We’re going with yours.

Genitive: usually use a noun phrase

Genitive possessive articles are common before nouns: meines Bruders — my brother’s. Independent genitive possessive pronouns also exist, but are uncommon. It is inaccurate to say that they cannot be used. For everyday learning, focus on the following noun phrases.

• Das ist der Hund meines Bruders. — That is my brother’s dog.
• Wo ist das Spielzeug unseres Kindes? — Where is our child’s toy?
• Er kann wegen seiner Frau nicht kommen. — He cannot come because of his wife.
• Das sind die Schuhe ihrer Schwestern. — Those are her/their sisters’ shoes.

Masculine and neuter nouns often also receive a genitive -s or -es, as in Bruders and Kindes. A von phrase can sometimes express possession in everyday speech, but von takes dative and is not interchangeable with every genitive construction.

A reliable ending chart

Use a consistent column order. This chart is for independent possessive pronouns, with mein- as the model. Possessive articles before nouns differ in nominative masculine and nominative/accusative neuter: mein Hund, mein Buch, but independent meiner, meins/meines.

Endings matter in both speaking and writing. Do not replace them all with a vague schwa sound: the final consonants help distinguish the forms. Practice complete phrases aloud and keep the noun’s article in mind.

See also: German Relative Pronouns.

Practice

Complete the independent forms: Das ist mein Buch. Ist das ___? (yours, du) / Ich habe meinen Schlüssel. Wo hast du ___? (yours, du) / Wir fahren mit unseren Freunden. Fahrt ihr mit ___? (yours, ihr)