FAM: Possessive Adjectives - Nominative and Accusative Case

Possessive Adjectives - Nominative and Accusative Case

Possessive adjectives in German are equivalent to the possessive adjectives in English (mine/his/hers/ours...).

Listen to the audio for how these forms are pronounced. Repeat what you hear.

Possessive Adjectives
English Deutsch
my mein
your (informal) dein
his/its sein
hers ihr
our unser
your euer
their ihr
your (formal sing + plural) Ihr

Declining possessive adjectives

Possessive adjectives are also called "ein" words because they follow the same pattern as the indefinite articles when declined in the Nominative and Accusative cases.

  • Das ist mein Hund.
    • der Hund
  • Das ist meine Katze.
    • die Katze
  • Ich grüße meine Mutter.
    • die Mutter
  • Ich grüße meinen Vater.
    • der Vater - goes to den Vater in the accusative case

Look at the chart again. How many meanings does the possessive adjective "ihr" have?

  • her(s)
  • their(s)
  • your(s) (formal - always capitalized)

Examples

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Practice Activity

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