Possessive pronouns

Possessive pronouns in German are similar to possessive adjectives.

You can use them without a noun.

They mean my/mine, your/yours, his, her/hers, our/ours, their/theirs.

In the nominative, the endings change for 'mine':

meiner (m), meine (f) meines/meins (nt) meine (pl)

They are in the same way as the indefinite article - ein, eine, ein - in the accusative, genitive and dative cases, eg:

Dein Vater ist groß, aber meiner ist größer. - Your father is tall, but mine is taller.

Ich habe meinen Kuli verloren. Darf ich deinen benutzen? - I’ve lost my pen. May I borrow yours?

There are a few things you must remember about these words:

  • The spelling of the informal euer - your - changes when it has an ending. It drops the letter e from after the letter u, eg euer Haus - your house, but eure Eltern - your parents.
  • The words for ‘her’ and ‘their’ are both ihr. The context will indicate their meaning.
  • ‘Her’ and ‘their’ will be distinguishable from the formal word for ‘your’, as ‘your’ must have a capital letter - Ihr.

Question

How would you say these?

  • his money
  • their children
  • our car
  • your daughter (plural, informal)
  • your daughter (singular, formal)