📘 Grammatik · Unit 4 · 1/13

Possessivartikel in allen Fällen

3 parts8 examples3 common mistakes

Example

Mein Bruder wohnt in Bern.My brother lives in Bern.Nom. mask.

Rule

mein, dein, sein … get the same endings as ein and kein — in the nominative, accusative and dative.

Practise

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

One table for everything

If you know ein and kein, you also know all the possessive articles: the endings are identical. This is one of the few places where German saves you work.

Kasus	maskulin	feminin	neutral	Plural
Nominativ	mein	meine	mein	meine
Akkusativ	meinen	meine	mein	meine
Dativ	meinem	meiner	meinem	meinen

The ending comes from the noun

It is not the owner that determines the ending, but the noun that is owned — its gender and its case in the sentence.

Mein Bruder wohnt in Bern.My brother lives in Bern.Nom. mask.
Ich besuche meinen Bruder.I am visiting my brother.Akk. mask.
Ich fahre mit meinem Bruder.I am driving with my brother.Dat. mask.
Ich helfe meiner Schwester.I am helping my sister.Dat. fem.
Wir spielen mit unseren Kindern.We play with our children.Dat. Pl.

sein or ihr?

The owner only decides the word stem: sein for a male owner, ihr for a female owner and for a plural. The ending then comes from the noun.

Ali sucht seinen Schlüssel.Ali is looking for his key.Besitzer männlich
Ayse sucht ihren Schlüssel.Ayşe is looking for her key.Besitzerin weiblich
Die Kinder suchen ihre Jacken.The children are looking for their jackets.Besitzer Plural

Common mistakes

Ich fahre mit mein Bruder. Ich fahre mit meinem Bruder.

After mit comes the dative: meinem.

Ayse sucht seinen Schlüssel. Ayse sucht ihren Schlüssel.

With a female owner the stem is ihr-.

Ich helfe meine Schwester. Ich helfe meiner Schwester.

helfen requires the dative, feminine becomes meiner.

Quick check · 3 questions

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