German grammar lessons › Level A1 › Der, die, das: German gender and articles

Possessives: mein, dein, sein, ihr…

my, your, his, her, our, their: they take the same endings as ein.

Part of the free A1 German course. Press the speaker next to an example to hear it.

One word for each owner

owner	possessive	English
ich	mein	my
du	dein	your (one friend)
er / es	sein	his, its
sie	ihr	her
wir	unser	our
ihr	euer	your (several friends)
sie	ihr	their
Sie	Ihr	your (formal)

Ihr means her and their; with a capital, Ihr means formal your. Context tells you which: Anna und ihr Mann (Anna and her husband), die Kinder und ihr Hund (the children and their dog), Frau Weber, ist das Ihr Mann? (Mrs Weber, is that your husband?).

Endings like ein

The possessive takes the same endings as ein and kein, matching the thing owned, not the owner (The accusative: den, einen, keinen):

	masculine	feminine	neuter	plural
nominative	mein	meine	mein	meine
accusative	meinen	meine	mein	meine

Euer drops its second e when it takes an ending: euer Auto, but eure Stadt.

Das ist mein Bruder Jonas.This is my brother Jonas.
Wo ist deine Tasche?Where's your bag?
Anna liebt ihren Hund.Anna loves her dog.
Herr Weber, ist das Ihr Schlüssel?Mr Weber, is this your key?
Unsere Wohnung ist klein.Our flat is small.
Ist das euer Auto?Is that your car?
Die Kinder suchen ihre Bücher.The children are looking for their books.
Ich besuche meinen Opa.I'm visiting my grandpa.

His or her?

The owner decides between sein and ihr: a man's things are sein-, a woman's things are ihr-. The ending comes from the thing owned. So Jonas und seine Schwester (his sister) but Lena und ihr Bruder (her brother).

Common mistakes

~~Das ist mein Schwester.~~ → Das ist meine Schwester. Die Schwester is feminine: meine.
~~Ich besuche mein Vater.~~ → Ich besuche meinen Vater. The masculine object takes -en.
~~Jonas liebt ihre Frau.~~ → Jonas liebt seine Frau. Jonas is the owner, so sein-.
~~Euere Wohnung~~ → eure Wohnung. Euer drops the e before an ending.
Don't use an English-style "of" or apostrophe: Annas Buch (no apostrophe) or das Buch von Anna.

Practice

Lena sucht _____ Handy.
Lena is looking for her phone.
Options: ihr · sein · ihre
Show the answer
ihr — Lena owns it, so ihr-; das Handy is neuter, so no ending.
Das ist _____ Schwester Mia.
This is my sister Mia.
Show the answer
meine
Ich frage _____ Vater.
I'm asking my father.
Show the answer
meinen — der Vater is the accusative object: meinen.
Jonas und _____ Freundin gehen ins Kino.
Jonas and his girlfriend are going to the cinema.
Options: seine · ihre · sein
Show the answer
seine — Jonas is the owner (sein-), and die Freundin is feminine (-e).

In the app, this lesson is taught one idea at a time with the examples read aloud, followed by questions that explain the rule when you get one wrong. It then comes back for review on later days, until you've answered it correctly on three separate days.

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