German Possessive Pronouns

7/16/2021 German Possessive Pronouns: Get to Know the Possessivpronomen
German Possessive Pronouns: Get to Know the

Possessivpronomen
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BY MARION MAEURMAN December 4, 2019
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Possessive pronouns are words like mine, yours and theirs. In this article, we walk
through when to use the various forms of German possessive pronouns.
Having four cases and genders to work with means there’s a lot of endings you’ll
be working with. To simplify it, we’re going to tackle each in bite sized chunks and
cover ways you can more easily recall how to put these important pieces of
grammar to use.
Quick Navigation
What are the German Possessive How Do I Keep Track of All of These??
Pronouns?
Conclusion
Genders and Cases
https://mydailygerman.com/german-possessive-pronouns/ 1/20
Nominative
Akkusativ
Dativ
Genitiv
What are the German Possessive Pronouns?
As the name suggests, possessive pronouns show ownership. Unlike possessive

adjectives (my, your, her) they can stand independently. The English possessive
pronouns here are matched with their German counterparts:
Mine mein
Yours (sg) dein1
His sein
Hers ihr
Its sein
Ours unser
Yours (pl) euer
Theirs ihr
Using these bases, we’re going to go through the many potential forms of German
possessive pronouns.
Genders and Cases
English and German possessive pronouns work in the same way but have
grammatical differences. In German, gender is extended to all nouns rather than
just referring to the gender of the speaker (his/her). They also mark neutral and
plural genders.
You can see what I mean in the following table of nominative possessive
pronouns:
Nominativ
Nominativ Ich
Maskulinum Meiner
Neutrum Meins
Femininum/ Plural Meine
Nominativ Du
Maskulinum Deiner
Neutrum Deins
Femininum/ Plural Deine
Nominativ Er/ Es
Maskulinum Seiner
Neutrum Seins
Femininum/ Plural Seine
Nominativ Sie (f)
Maskulinum Ihrer
Neutrum Ihres
Femininum/ Plural Ihre
Nominativ Wir
Maskulinum Unserer
Neutrum Unseres
Femininum/ Plural Unsere
Nominativ Ihr
Maskulinum Eurer
Neutrum Eures
Femininum/ Plural Eure
Nominativ Sie (pl)
Maskulinum Ihrer
Neutrum Ihres
Note: The -e is sometimes excluded from Ihres to form Ihrs in the neuter form.
Examples:
1 Das ist meiner. – That is mine. (Maskulinum)
2 Dieses Buch ist ihres. – This book is theirs. (Neutrum)
3 Diese Katze ist nicht seine. – This cat is not his. (Femininum)
4 Diese Bücher sind deine. – These books are yours. (Plural)
Notice that the gender of the German possessive pronouns matches that of the
noun rather than whoever owns it. Thus, his in example three is feminine because
the noun “cat” is feminine, not masculine because of the pronoun “his”.
In addition to gender, you have to account for case when dealing with German
possessive pronouns. German also has four cases – a bit more than we’re used to
in English. These are the nominative, accusative, dative, and genitive. Putting
these together with the noun’s gender will help you devise the correct form.
Akkusativ
Akkusativ Ich
Maskulinum Meinen
Neutrum Meines
Femininum/ Plural Meine
Akkusativ Du
Maskulinum Deinen
Neutrum Deines
Femininum/ Plural Deine
Akkusativ Er/ Es
Maskulinum Seinen
Neutrum Seines
Femininum/ Plural Seine
Akkusativ Sie (f)
Maskulinum Ihren
Neutrum Ihres
Akkusativ Wir
Maskulinum Unseren
Neutrum Unseres
Femininum/ Plural Unsere
Akkusativ Ihr
Maskulinum Euren
Neutrum Eures
Femininum/ Plural Eure
Akkusativ Sie (pl)
Maskulinum Ihren
Neutrum Ihres
You’ll notice that the only difference between the nominative and the accusative
sets is the masculine form.
Where in nominative case the possessive pronouns end in -er, here they end in -
en, just as with the articles der/den. One good thing about German is that the
in ections on words use a relatively consistent system from set to set.
Examples: (nouns included in parentheses to reference gender)
1 Hast du deinen vergessen (Schlüssel)? – Did you forget your (keys)?
(Maskulinum)
2 Es ist für meines (Kind). – It’s for mine (child). (Neutrum)
3 Es liegt um seine (Nähe). – It’s around his (neighborhood).
(Femininum)
4 Habt Ihr ihre erinnert (Schuhe)? – Did you remember yours (shoes)?
(Plural)
The accusative case is used for direct objects as well as with some prepositions
(durch, gegen, um, ohne, für, bis, etc). This differs from the nominative which is
used for subjects of a sentence.
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Dativ
Next, we’ll take a look at the dative case. We use the dative with indirect objects
and a separate set of prepositions (aus, bei, mit, nach, zu, seit, etc).
Dativ Ich
Maskulinum/Neutrum Meinem
Femininum Meiner
Plural Meinen
Dativ Du
Maskulinum/Neutrum Deinem
Femininum Deiner
Plural Deinen
Dativ Er/ Es
Maskulinum/Neutrum Seinem
Femininum Seiner
Plural Seinen
Dativ Sie (f)
Maskulinum/Neutrum Ihrem
Femininum Ihrer
Plural Ihren
Dativ Wir
Maskulinum/Neutrum Unserem
Femininum Unserer
Plural Unseren
Dativ Ihr
Maskulinum/Neutrum Eurem
Femininum Eurer
Plural Euren
Dativ Sie (pl)
Maskulinum/Neutrum Ihrem
Femininum Ihrer
Plural Ihren
Here, the -em nal for masculine and neuter words enters the scene. We see the
same conjugation with them as we would with the article dem. This is also the
only instance where the feminine and plural forms diverge.
Examples:
1 Du kannst auf unserem sitzen (Stuhl). – You can sit on ours (chair).
(Maskulinum)
2 Ich werde mit meinem anrufen (Handy). – I’ll call with mine (phone).
(Neutrum)
3 Sie gibt das Geld auf ihrer (Mutter). – She gave the money to hers
(mother). (Femininum)
4 Sollen sie nach euren kommen (Klassen)? – Should they come to
yours (classes)? (Plural)
Genitiv
And with this we nally move on to the last case! The genitive is used with
possession, some prepositions, and some idioms. The possessive genitive in
German is essentially equal to etwas+von+jemand (the something of someone).
Unlike the other cases, only possessive adjectives (or dependent possessive
pronouns) can be used here. These are words like my, your, her, and their.
Genitiv Ich
Maskulinum/Neutrum Meines
Femininum / Plural Meiner
Genitiv Du
Maskulinum/Neutrum Deines
Femininum / Plural Deiner
Genitiv Er/ Es
Maskulinum/Neutrum Seines
Femininum / Plural Seiner
Genitiv Sie (f)
Maskulinum/Neutrum Ihres
Femininum / Plural Ihrer
Genitiv Wir
Maskulinum/Neutrum Unseres
Femininum / Plural Unserer
Genitiv Ihr
Maskulinum/Neutrum Eures
Femininum / Plural Eurer
Genitiv Sie (pl)
Maskulinum/Neutrum Ihres
Femininum / Plural Ihrer
There are only two different forms for this one – the masculine/neuter and
feminine/plural.
Examples:
1 Das ist der Hund meines Bruder. – That is my brother’s dog.
(Maskulinum)
2 Wo ist das Spielzeug unseres Kind? – Where is our child’s toy?
(Neutrum)
3 Er kann nicht kommen, wegen seiner Frau. – He cannot come,
because of his wife. (Femininum)
4 Diese sind die Schuhe ihrer Schwestern. – These are her sisters’
shoes. (Plural)
Knowing this form is particularly important for meaning.
For instance, the rst sentence might read, “That is the dog, my brother,” to
someone unfamiliar with this case, which just doesn’t make sense. When you
know the genitive, meines indicates the brother’s ownership and the correct
meaning comes through.
How Do I Keep Track of All of ese??
Unfortunately, memorization and practice are the best ways to solidify your
German possessive pronouns. Luckily, many of these endings come out as a
schwa (ə - like the ‘a’ in sofa) in speech.
I’ve been told by native speakers that by defaulting to this pronunciation, you can
generally be understood in conversation.
Writing is a different story. In this context, correct spellings become much more
important. In order to help you remember all the various forms, I’ve included a little
trick I learned in one of my own German classes.
Case Nominativ
Maskulinum -(e)r
Neutrum -e
Femininum -(e)s
Plural -e
Case Akkusativ
Maskulinum -(e)n
Neutrum -e
Femininum -(e)s
Plural -e
Case Dativ
Maskulinum -(e)m
Neutrum -(e)r
Femininum -(e)m
Plural -(e)n
Case Genitiv
Maskulinum -(e)s
Neutrum -(e)r
Femininum -(e)s
Plural -(e)r
The table gathers of all of the endings according to gender and case. When
they’re organized this way, you get the letters: rese, nese, mrmn, srsr. Looks like a
bunch of nonsense, right?
But you can turn these into a mnemonic that will stick in your mind. The one I
utilize is: rese (reesuh) nese (neesuh), Mister Merman, senior senior. Alternatively,
you could try making up your own.
See also: German Relative Pronouns
Conclusion
To summarize, the possessive pronouns used in German depend on gender,

number, and case.
They are especially important in written materials and exams where your
grammar is more likely to be scrutinized.
It is good to keep in mind that these in ections are similar to that of other parts of
speech (der/einen/wem). So, there is really only a single system to memorize with
the use of different bases for different meanings.
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About the author
Marion Maeurman
Marion studies English, French and Italian in Freiburg, Germany. She enjoys diving into
new cultures and never misses the opportunity to somehow improve her language
skills.
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7/16/2021 German Possessive Pronouns: Get to Know the Possessivpronomen

German Possessive Pronouns: Get to Know the

BY MARION MAEURMAN December 4, 2019

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What are the German Possessive Pronouns?

As the name suggests, possessive pronouns show ownership. Unlike possessive

Yours (sg) dein1

Yours (pl) euer

Genders and Cases

Femininum/ Plural Meine

Femininum/ Plural Deine

Femininum/ Plural Seine

Nominativ Sie (f)

Femininum/ Plural Ihre

Femininum/ Plural Unsere

Femininum/ Plural Eure

Nominativ Sie (pl)

Femininum/ Plural Ihre

1 Das ist meiner. – That is mine. (Maskulinum)

2 Dieses Buch ist ihres. – This book is theirs. (Neutrum)

4 Diese Bücher sind deine. – These books are yours. (Plural)

Femininum/ Plural Meine

Femininum/ Plural Deine

Femininum/ Plural Seine

Akkusativ Sie (f)

Femininum/ Plural Ihre

Femininum/ Plural Unsere

Femininum/ Plural Eure

Akkusativ Sie (pl)

Femininum/ Plural Ihre

Examples: (nouns included in parentheses to reference gender)

1 Hast du deinen vergessen (Schlüssel)? – Did you forget your (keys)?

2 Es ist für meines (Kind). – It’s for mine (child). (Neutrum)

3 Es liegt um seine (Nähe). – It’s around his (neighborhood).

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10 entertaining short stories about everyday themes

Practice reading and listening with 90+ minutes of audio

Learn 1,000+ new German vocabulary effortlessly!

Dativ Sie (f)

Dativ Sie (pl)

4 Sollen sie nach euren kommen (Klassen)? – Should they come to

yours (classes)? (Plural)

Femininum / Plural Meiner

Femininum / Plural Deiner

Femininum / Plural Seiner

Genitiv Sie (f)

Femininum / Plural Ihrer

Femininum / Plural Unserer

Femininum / Plural Eurer

Genitiv Sie (pl)

Femininum / Plural Ihrer

1 Das ist der Hund meines Bruder. – That is my brother’s dog.

2 Wo ist das Spielzeug unseres Kind? – Where is our child’s toy?

3 Er kann nicht kommen, wegen seiner Frau. – He cannot come,

because of his wife. (Femininum)

Knowing this form is particularly important for meaning.

How Do I Keep Track of All of ese??

See also: German Relative Pronouns

To summarize, the possessive pronouns used in German depend on gender,