Possessivartikel

ENDE

Which language do you learn German from?

📘 Grammatik · Unit 10 · 1/9

Possessivartikel

3 parts6 examples3 common mistakes

Example

  1. Mein Bruder wohnt in Bern.My brother lives in Bern.Nominativ maskulin

Rule

mein, dein, sein, ihr … show who something belongs to. They are declined like ein — the ending depends on the thing owned, not on the owner.

Practise

This topic’s own test: 10 sets, 10 questions in each.Grammatik-Test →

One possessive article per person

Pay special attention to sein (it belongs to him) versus ihr (it belongs to her) — most mistakes happen here, because the choice depends on the owner, while the ending depends on the thing owned.

PersonPossessivartikelMeaning
ichmeinmy
dudeinyour
er / esseinhis / its
sieihrher
wirunserour
ihreueryour (plural)
sie (Plural)ihrtheir
Sie (höflich)Ihryour (formal)

The ending depends on the noun

Whether it is mein or meine depends on the gender and case of the following noun — not on who the owner is.

KasusmaskulinfemininneutralPlural
Nominativmein Vatermeine Muttermein Kindmeine Eltern
Akkusativmeinen Vatermeine Muttermein Kindmeine Eltern
Dativmeinem Vatermeiner Muttermeinem Kindmeinen Eltern
  1. Mein Bruder wohnt in Bern.My brother lives in Bern.Nominativ maskulin
  2. Ich besuche meinen Bruder.I am visiting my brother.Akkusativ maskulin
  3. Ich fahre mit meiner Schwester.I am going with my sister.Dativ feminin

Special case: euer

euer loses its second e as soon as an ending is added: euer Haus, but eure Wohnung.

  1. Ist das euer Auto?Is that your (plural) car?
  2. Wo ist eure Wohnung?Where is your (plural) flat?
  3. Ich helfe euren Kindern.I am helping your (plural) children.

Common mistakes

Sie besucht seine Mutter. (die Mutter der Frau) Sie besucht ihre Mutter.
For a female owner it is ihr, not sein.
Ich besuche mein Bruder. Ich besuche meinen Bruder.
In the accusative the masculine possessive article gets -en.
euere Wohnung eure Wohnung
With an ending, the second e of euer drops out.

Quick check · 3 questions

Got the rule? Try three questions; the full test is below.

1 / 3 0 correct

Done with this step?