Possessive adjectives are a type of adjectives which are used to show possession. Penlighten explains this part of speech in detail.
Did You Know?
The articles ‘a’, ‘an’, and ‘the’ are also considered as adjectives.
Adjectives are describing words which modify nouns and pronouns. They tell us which (this, that), how many (few, many, two), or of what kind (brave, soft, yellow) is the noun. For example, “Susan is a beautiful girl.” In this sentence, the word ‘beautiful’ modifies the noun ‘girl’. Therefore, it is an adjective.
Adjectives are classified into various types as follows:
- Descriptive
- Predicate
- Demonstrative
- Indefinite
- Attributive
- Absolute
- Nominal
- Positive
- Comparative
- Superlative
- Possessive
Possessive adjectives are used to show possession. For example, “Ron is her brother.” In this sentence, the word ‘her’ shows possession, and is therefore, a possessive adjective. Other possessive adjectives used in the English language are my, your, his, her, its, our, and their.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS AND POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES
Possessive adjectives can be easily confused with possessive pronouns since they are just slight modifications of possessive adjectives. The main difference between the two is that a possessive pronoun replaces the noun, whereas a possessive adjective modifies the noun, and appears before it.
A possessive pronoun is used instead of a noun.
Example:
Mary’s home is huge. Mine isn’t.
A possessive adjective, on the other hand, comes before the noun, just like any other adjective.
Example:
Mary’s house is bigger than my house.
USAGE OF POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES IN SENTENCES
» My dress is new.
» Our cat is very friendly.
» I am getting married to her brother.
» Their daughter is very pretty.
» Is that your book?
» My dog always needs its ball.
» I am wearing his watch.
POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES IN FRENCH
| ENGLISH | MASCULINE | FEMININE | BEFORE VOWEL | PLURAL |
| my | mon | ma | mon | mes |
| your (singular, familiar) | ton | ta | ton | tes |
| his, her, its | son | sa | son | ses |
| our | notre | notre | notre | nos |
| your (plural, formal) | votre | votre | votre | vos |
| their | leur | leur | leur | leurs |
POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES IN ITALIAN
| ENGLISH | MASCULINE SINGULAR | FEMININE SINGULAR | MASCULINE PLURAL | FEMININE PLURAL |
| my | il mio | la mia | i miei | le mie |
| your (familiar) | il tuo | la tua | i tuoi | le tue |
| your (formal) | il Suo | la Sua | i Suoi | le Sue |
| his, her, its | il suo | la sua | i suoi | le sue |
| our | il nostro | la nostra | i nostri | le nostre |
| your (familiar) | il vostro | la vostra | i vostri | le vostre |
| your (formal) | il Loro | la Loro | i Loro | le Loro |
| their | il loro | la loro | i loro | le loro |
It might take a lot of practice to learn the differentiation between the usage of possessive adjectives and possessive pronouns. Solving exercises, and taking help of the worksheets available on the Internet is therefore advised.
