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English Possessive Pronouns and Adjectives

Possessive adjectives (my, your, his, her, our, their) go before a noun: my car. Possessive pronouns (mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs) stand alone: The car is mine.

  • CEFR A1
  • 9-question quiz
  • 2 exercises
Possessive adjective → possessive pronoun
  1. my→mineIt's my car. → It's mine.
  2. your→yoursyour desk → yours
  3. his→hishis bag → his (no change)
  4. her→hersher phone → hers
  5. our→oursour office → ours
  6. their→theirstheir idea → theirs

Learn how to use possessive pronouns and adjectives, and how to differentiate between them. Possessive pronouns (mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs) are used to express ownership. They are not immediately followed by a noun, but they stand alone.

CORE Languages English Possessive Pronouns and Adjectives

Examples:
The red car is mine.
The strawberry ice cream is hers, the chocolate one is yours.
The book is his.

Possessive Adjectives

Possessive adjectives (my, your, his, her, its, our, their) are a separate set of words and are always followed by a noun. Possessive adjectives do not stand alone.

CORE Languages English Possessive Pronouns and Adjectives

Examples: 

I am driving my car, and you are riding your bike.
She is reading her book.
We are bringing our dogs to the BBQ. Are you bringing yours (possessive pronoun)?
Are their children in high school?

Key vocabulary

WordMeaningExample
my / minebelonging to meThis is my laptop. The charger is mine too.
your / yoursbelonging to youYour coffee is on the table. Is this cup yours too?
hisbelonging to him (same form before a noun and alone)That is his office, and the parking space is his too.
her / hersbelonging to herHer presentation was great. The best idea was hers.
itsbelonging to it (no apostrophe)The company changed its logo.
our / oursbelonging to usOur team won. The prize is ours.
their / theirsbelonging to themTheir office is bigger than ours, but ours is newer.
Whose ...?asks who owns somethingWhose umbrella is this? — It's mine.

Practice: English Possessive Pronouns and Adjectives

Work through the exercises, then test yourself with the quiz. Learn from your mistakes and try again as often as you like.

Exercises

Adjective or pronoun?

Choose the correct word in brackets.

  1. This is ______ desk. (my / mine)

    before a noun

    Show answer

    my

  2. The blue pen is ______. (my / mine)

    stands alone

    Show answer

    mine

  3. Is this ______ jacket? (your / yours)

    before a noun

    Show answer

    your

  4. The idea was ______, not mine. (her / hers)

    stands alone

    Show answer

    hers

  5. ______ manager is on vacation. (Our / Ours)

    before a noun

    Show answer

    Our

  6. We have our tickets. Do they have ______? (their / theirs)

    stands alone

    Show answer

    theirs

  7. The company announced ______ new product. (its / it's)

    possessive, no apostrophe

    Show answer

    its

  8. This phone isn't mine. Is it ______? (your / yours)

    stands alone

    Show answer

    yours

Answer with a possessive pronoun

Answer the question with It's or They're + a possessive pronoun.

  1. Whose car is this? (Sarah)

    belongs to her

    Show answer

    It's hers.

  2. Whose files are these? (Mr. Brown)

    belong to him

    Show answer

    They're his.

  3. Whose office is this? (you and me)

    belongs to us

    Show answer

    It's ours.

  4. Whose bags are these? (the visitors)

    belong to them

    Show answer

    They're theirs.

Quiz: 9 questions

1. This is not my book. It is ______.
2. Mark has a dog. The dog is _____.
3. Susie and Tim have a cat. The cat is _______.
4. Don't touch that! It isn't ______.
5. I am taking _______ dog to the park.
6. Whose laptop is this?
7. Is this Emily's toy?
8. Are these your pencils?
9. This cellphone belongs to Rob. It is _____.

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