mi, tu, su: my, your, his/her/your

Saying whose something is

A possessive is a word that tells you who something belongs to: my, your, his, her. In Spanish it goes before the noun, and you don't add el or la.

• Mi madre es de Granada.My mother is from Granada.
• Mis hermanos son altos.My brothers are tall.
• Tu casa es muy bonita.Your house is very nice.
• ¿Dónde están tus llaves?Where are your keys?

It matches the thing, not the owner

Mi, tu, su add -s when the thing owned is plural. They don't change for masculine or feminine: mi libro, mi casa.

• Ana y su novio están en Roma.Ana and her boyfriend are in Rome.
• Javier y sus amigos están en el bar.Javier and his friends are in the bar.
• Los vecinos y su perro están en el parque.The neighbours and their dog are in the park.

In the last example there are many owners but only one dog, so it is su perro, not sus.

Su has many meanings

Su can mean his, her, its, their and also your when you speak formally to usted or ustedes (Tú or usted; vosotros or ustedes). The context almost always makes it clear:

• Señora Ruiz, ¿cómo está su hijo?Mrs Ruiz, how is your son?

If it isn't clear, you can say el coche de él (his car), el coche de ella (her car).

tu or tú?

• tu (no accent) = your: tu perro (your dog);
• tú (accent) = you: Tú eres de aquí (You're from here).

The same goes for mi (my) and mí (me, after words like para: para mí, for me).

For our and your (plural, vosotros) there are nuestro and vuestro, which also change for gender. They come in Possessive adjectives: mi, tu, su, nuestro, vuestro.

Common mistakes

• mis casa, mi libros → mi casa, mis libros. Match the number of things owned.
• el mi coche → mi coche. No article before the possessive.
• tú perro → tu perro. With an accent, tú means "you".
• "Her books" is su libros → sus libros. The -s depends on the books, not on her.
• "Their house" (one house, several owners) is sus casa → su casa.