What is a Possessive Article?
- Possessive articles come before the noun.
- The describe to whom or what something belongs.
- They show ownership or belonging.
Example:
- „Das ist Anna. Ihre Katze spielt im Garten.“
Possessive Articles - Forms
The form of the possessive article depends on the person it is referring to:
- „Mein Opa ist 80 Jahre alt. Sein Bruder ist 75 Jahre alt.“
- „Wie alt ist dein Opa?“
The person of reference (the „owner“) just denotes possession, not the case, gender, ornumber.
The declension comes from the noun that comes after the personal article.
Declension: The Possessive Article
Possessive articles have to be declined like every other article:
Declension is the same for all possessive articles (meinem, deinem, seinem, ihrem, unserem,…).
| Nominative | Accusative | Dative | Genitive | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masculine | mein Mann | meinen Mann | meinem Mann | meines Mannes |
| Feminine | meine Frau | meine Frau | meiner Frau | meiner Frau |
| Neuter | mein Kind | mein Kind | meinem Kind | meines Kindes |
| Plural | meine Eltern | meine Eltern | meinen Eltern | meiner Eltern |
Exception:
- euer Vater ⇒ euren Vater
If you add an ending to „euer“ you have to drop the „e“ in the middle.
Analysis of the Example
The person of reference is Anna.
⇒ Possessive: 3. Person feminine ⇒ ihr
„Katze“ is the noun that the article belongs to.
⇒ Number: Singular (only one cat)
⇒ Gender: feminine (die Katze)
⇒ Case: Nominative
⇒ Nominative + Singular + feminine = ihre
More Examples
A: „Das ist Jens. Sein Auto steht vor unserem Haus.“
B: „Ist Jens dein Freund?“
A: „Ja, Jens ist mein Freund. Er holt mich ab.“
B: „Na dann viel Spaß bei eurem Ausflug.“
A: „Danke, werden wir haben!“
Further Information:
- We have Possessive Articles and Possessive Pronouns
- In addition to Possessive Articles, the Genitive Case can also express an ownership or belonging.
- Der, die, or das? How to determine the correct article: The German Gender
- Too many rules for you? Guess 75 percent of all articles correctly without a dictionary: The Article Trick
- When do we use no article at all in front of a noun? ⇒ Zero Article.
- Nominative, Accusative, Dative or Genitive? Overview of all German cases:Cases – The Four German Cases
- More articles: Definite and Indefinite Articles and the Negative Article „kein“
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