MFLE
Adjectives
Possessive adjectives
In English, possessive adjectives are the words 'my', 'his', 'her' etc.
| mein | my |
| dein | your (singular, familiar) |
| Ihr | your (singular, polite) |
| sein | his/its |
| ihr | her/its |
| sein | its |
| unser | our |
| euer | your (plural, familiar) |
| Ihr | your (plural, polite) |
| ihr | their (plural, all genders) |
NB: Note that 'Ihr', which corresponds to 'Sie', also always has a capital letter.
Agreement of possessive adjectives with nouns
These possessive adjectives operate in very much the same way as the indefinite article 'ein', 'eine' and 'ein'. They too must be made masculine, feminine or neuter, or plural to agree with a noun.
| Possessive adjective + noun | English translation |
| mein Mann (m) | my husband |
| meine Frau (f) | my wife |
| mein Kind (n) | my child |
| meine Freunde (plural) | my friends |
| deine Banane (f) | your banana |
| sein Kopf (m) | his/its head |
| ihr Kopf (m) | her/its head |
| sein Kopf (m) | its head |
| unser Haus (n) | our house |
| ihre Kinder (plural) | her children |
| ihre Kinder (plural) | their children |
NB: Note that 'its head' has been included three times, because:
- 'sein Kopf' could refer back to 'der Hund' (dog), which is masculine in German
- 'ihr Kopf 'could refer back to 'die Katze' (cat), which is feminine in German
- 'sein Kopf' could refer back to 'das Kaninchen' (rabbit), which is neuter in German.
Possessive adjectives with other adjectives
In the introduction, we saw the following four examples of adjectives with the indefinite article:
| Article + noun | Noun | English translation |
| ein kurzer | Rock (m) | a short skirt |
| eine bunte | Jacke (f) | a brightly coloured jacket |
| ein graues | Hemd (n) | a grey shirt |
| neue | Schuhe (plural, all genders) | new shoes |
Adjectives with the possessive adjective follow exactly the same pattern in the singular.
| Possessive adjective + noun | English translation |
| mein kurzer Rock (m) | my short skirt |
| deine bunte Jacke (f) | your brightly coloured jacket |
| sein graues Hemd (n) | his grey shirt |
| ihre neuen Schuhe (plural) | her new shoes |
| meine neuen Kleider (plural) | my new clothes |
NB: These examples are all in the nominative case. Some of the endings will change in the other cases.