Examples of possessive pronouns in English. Pronouns in English

What are possessive pronouns? These are short words expressing belonging and answering the question “Whose?” / “Whose?” They can be presented in adjunctive or absolute form, which differ somewhat in their appearance and position in the sentence.

Possessive pronouns in attached form

This form is characterized by its position in front of a noun. The easiest way to remember possessive pronouns is paired with their corresponding personal pronouns based on the following simple table, understandable even for children:

Personal pronouns	Possessive pronouns	Examples	Translation of examples
I/I	my / my	my job, my house, my toys	my work, my home, my toys
you / you, you, you	your / yours, yours, yours	your children, your bicycle, your car	your (your, your) children, your bike, your car
he / he	his / his (from m.r.)	his sister, his friend, his uncle	his sister, his friends, his uncle
she / she	her / her	her car, her parents, her brother	her car, her parents, her brother
it / it	its / his (from wed.)	its name, its paws, its hospital	his name, his paws, his hospital
we / we	our / our	our house, our friends, our child	our home, our friends, our child
they / they	their / their	their room, their son, their hands	their room, their son, their hands

Let's look at some examples of the use of possessive pronouns in the attached form. Please note that in English this type of pronoun does not change by case, gender or number, unlike the corresponding Russian pronouns. Compare pronouns in English sentences and their Russian equivalents:

Attached form of the possessive pronoun	Example sentences	Translation of examples
my	I like my job.	I love my (my) job.
	I'm going to wash my face.	I'm going to wash my (my) face.
	I haven't got my key.	I don't have my key.
	My book is on the desk.	My book is on the desk.
your*	I saw you with your brother.	I saw you with your brother.
	Do you enjoy your job?	Do you enjoy your (your) work?
	Your breakfast is on your table.	Your breakfast is on your table.
	I don’t know your address or your telephone number.	I don't know your address or your phone number.
his	Tom likes to work in his garden.	Tom loves to work in his (his) garden.
	Larry lives with his parents.	Larry lives with his (his) parents.
	Say Tom, his sister telephoned.	Tell Tom his sister called.
	Mr. Baker said he had bought a car. Is this his car?	Mr. Baker said he bought the car. This is his car?
her	Ann wants to sell her car.	Ann wants to sell her car.
	Sue often visits her grandmother.	Sue often visits her grandmother.
	My sister sometimes jogs in a park near her house.	My sister sometimes runs in the park near her (her) house.
	Her bag is on the chair in the living room.	Her bag is on a chair in the living room.
its**	This is a beautiful tree. Its leavesare golden and orange.	This is a beautiful tree. Its leaves are gold and orange.
	Cambridge is famous for its university.	Cambridge is famous for its (his) university.
	That dog is playing with its tail.	The dog plays with his (her) tail.
	I am not going to buy this bicycle. Its price is too high.	I'm not going to buy this bike. Its price is too high.
our	We are going to visit our parents.	We are going to visit our parents.
	Let's show our project to the teacher.	Let's show our project to the teacher.
	Our money is in the box.	Our money is in the box.
	We were happy to see our friends.	We are happy to see our friends.
their	Most people aren't happy with their jobs.	Most people are unhappy in their (their) job.
	The children are doing their homework.	The children do their (their) homework.
	Tell your parents, their order will be delivered tomorrow.	Tell your parents their order will be delivered tomorrow.
	Mr. and Mrs. Smith are going to the theater with their friends this evening.	Mr and Mrs Smith are going to the theater with their friends this evening.

*Pronoun your is not written with a capital letter in the middle of a sentence, even if it means a polite address " Your", since in English there is no separate polite form of address of this nature.

**Be careful with pronouns its , because in English it means belonging to an inanimate object or animal, since they belong to the neuter gender in English. In Russian, the category of gender can be different for animals and inanimate objects, so often in Russian its translated as both “his” and “her”. Just don’t confuse the possessive pronoun under any circumstances. its with shortened form it 's , consisting of a pronoun it and verb is.

Probably, for the attentive reader, the fact that quite often (but not always) it is convenient to translate possessive pronouns into Russian using the “ubiquitous” possessive pronoun has not gone unnoticed "mine". But in English there is no such universal pronoun. Therefore, be careful when translating from Russian into English - find the subject in each case and determine what the word “your” means in each specific case: “mine”, “his”, “their”, etc. For example:

I meet my (my) friends on Saturday.	I am meeting my friends on Saturday.
John and Sarah are proud of their (= their) children.	John and Sarah are proud of their children.
Tom likes to lie on his (= his) sofa and do nothing.	Tom likes lying on his sofa and doing nothing.
We are going to sell our (= our) yacht.	We are going to sell our yacht.

Possessive pronouns in absolute form

In general, this subtype of possessive pronouns is both similar to the attached form and has a number of significant differences:

1) Possessive pronouns in absolute form for the most part somewhat longer the first subspecies, but not all of them. Most of these pronouns are formed from their relatives in the adjunctive form by adding -s, but not all of them either. Moreover, the meaning of pronouns in the absolute form is the same as that of their counterparts in the attached form. Let's compare:

Attachable form	Absolute form
my (my car- my car)	mine (The car is mine. - The car is mine.)
your (your flowers - your flowers)	yours (Theseflowers are yours. - These flowers are yours.)
his(his book - his book)	his (This book is his, not yours. - This book is his, not yours.)
her (her dress - her dress)	hers (This dress is hers.- This dress is hers.)
its (its castle – his castle)	its (The castle is its (the town’s). – His (city’s) castle.)
our (our teachers – our teachers)	ours (Those teachers are ours. – Those teachers are ours.)
their (their house – their house)	theirs (The big house is theirs. - The big house is theirs.)

2) The absolute form of the possessive pronoun is used when a qualifying noun is not placed after it. For example:

Absolute form of the possessive pronoun	Example sentences	Translation of examples
mine	This book is mine.	This book is mine.
yours	Those gloves are yours.	Those gloves are yours.
his	George and Ihave bought new cars. The red car is mine and the blue one is his.	George and I bought cars. The red car is mine, and the blue car is his.
hers	This is your house. And show me hers!	This is your home. Show it to me!
its	My dog ​​has got many prizes. All those medals are its.	My dog ​​has many awards. All those medals are hers.
ours	We don't need your suitcases. Give us ours!	We don't need your suitcases. Give us ours!
theirs	Those little children in the garden are theirs.	Those little children in the garden are theirs.

We note that the absolute form of possessive pronouns is no longer translated by the pronoun “our”.

3) The absolute form of possessive pronouns is also characterized by use in stable expressions, for example a friend of mine , where the defined noun stands before the pronoun in absolute form and is connected to it by a preposition of . This verbal turn usually imparts uncertainty to the expression, that is, it means one of the friends, some of the friends. Judge for yourself:

I was at the cinema with a friend of mine.	I was at the cinema with one of my friends.
James saw Jennet in the city center with some friends of hers.	James saw Jennette in the city center with several of her friends.
We are planning to go to a rock concert with some friends of ours.	We are planning to go to a rock concert with several friends.
Do you like playing chess with a friend of yours?	Do you like to play chess with some of your friends?

In general, we can briefly define the difference in the use of the adjunct and absolute forms with a short rule that is understandable even to a child: The “short” form is used BEFORE a NOUN, and the “long” form is used WITHOUT A NOUN.

Come on! I'll show you my room. / Be bolder! I'll show you my (= my) room.	Look! This room is mine. / Look! This room is mine.
Pass Gina her copy-book, please. / Give Gina her notebook, please.	Gina has put the copy-book on the desk. That green copy-book is hers. / Gina put the notebook on the desk. That green notebook is hers.
Takeyour lunch-boxes from the table in the kitchen. / Take your lunch boxes from the kitchen table.	The lunch-boxes in the kitchen are yours. Take them, please. / The lunch boxes in the kitchen are yours. Take them please.

We hope that now choosing the correct possessive pronoun will not present any difficulties for you.

// 18 Comments

As we have already said, a pronoun is a part of speech that indicates an object or its belonging, but does not name the object itself. English pronouns are divided into personal, possessive, indefinite, interrogative, reflexive, . In today's post we will look at personal and possessive pronouns.

Personal pronouns in English

In English, the following personal pronouns are distinguished:


As a rule, we need personal pronouns to designate persons or objects depending on their relationship to the speaker. Thus, the pronoun I is used to designate the speaker himself; we – to designate other persons along with the speaker himself; they – someone else other than the speaker and his interlocutors.

Google shortcode

English personal pronouns can be modified depending on person, case (only nominative and objective cases are distinguished), number, gender (only pronouns in the third person singular indicate the gender of the speaker).

Here are the English personal pronouns you need to remember

If the personal pronoun is in the nominative case, then in the sentence it will serve as the subject:

• He is hungry - he is hungry
• We did not go to school yesterday – Yesterday we did not go to school

And if we have a pronoun in the objective case, then in the sentence it will be an addition:

• He brought those beautiful roses for me - he brought these beautiful roses for me
• Our teacher told us about a famous hero - The teacher told us about the famous hero

Sometimes, when we need to talk about ourselves, we use the objective case form of the pronoun “I” - Me.

• Who opened the box without permission? – Me – Who opened the box without permission? - I
• Look, this is me in the picture - Look, this is me in the photograph.

The pronoun I should always be capitalized, even if it is in the middle of a sentence, and the pronoun you is used for both the second person singular (you) and the plural (you). The pronoun it is used to replace nouns denoting an inanimate object.

Possessive pronouns in English

Possessive pronouns are used in cases where it is necessary to indicate that an object belongs to a person. They differ in numbers and persons, and always come before the noun as a modifier; ь is not used with them.

The English pronoun “your” is also translated into one of the possessive pronouns, depending on the context:

• He thanked and went his way - he thanked and went his way
• Don’t leave your things here – Don’t leave your things here

If there is no noun after the personal pronoun, the so-called is used.

• A friend of mine gave me your telephone number – One of my friends gave me your phone number.

“I love him” and “I love his cat” - in Russian, the form of the personal pronoun answering the question “who?” is completely identical to the possessive pronoun answering the question “whose?”. It's not like that in English. Let's look at two types of pronouns that indicate a person, be it the object itself or the person who performs the action or on whom the action is performed, or who belongs to someone or something:

• Personal pronouns (who? what? whom? to whom? etc.)
• Possessive pronouns (whose?)

Personal pronouns

Personal pronouns are pronouns that indicate the subject, but do not name it, that is: I, you, he, she, it, we, you, they. We are lucky to have you. In English, personal pronouns have only two cases:

• Nominative – as in Russian, the nominative case is always only the subject;
• Objective - combines everything that in the Russian language would be expressed by all other cases except the nominative.

	Nominative		Objective case
	You know the truth. They can help you.		Let's me see the book. Ask him to do it. Tell her to come. Put it on the floor. Explain it to us. I'll meet you at the airport. Can you help them?

It is important to remember that in English there is no pronoun “you”. There was once a pronoun in English, “thou,” which can sometimes be intimidating to those who open a volume of Shakespeare for the first time in their lives. But this is just a harmless “you.” It is not currently used. Instead, we have long used “you,” which comes from ye – you (plural). That is, before it was both you - thou, and you - ye. In the end, only “you” remained. Therefore, every time you use the pronoun “you,” you are addressing the person with you. It’s not for nothing that they say that the British are the most polite nation in the world.

It is important to note that some languages ​​also have an indefinite personal pronoun that replaces an arbitrary subject regardless of gender - for example, French. on and it. man. In English, this pronoun is “one.” For example, one doesn’t have to know everything in order to succeed.

Possessive pronouns

These pronouns qualify the noun and answer the questions “whose, whose, whose.”
Possessive pronouns have two forms

	Possessive pronoun as a definition		Possessive pronoun as a noun
		Her name is Jane. Its (the dog’s) tail is long. We like our teacher. Can I have your book? Answer their question.		It's your bag. Where's mine? I know her address, tell me his. His name is Tom, what is hers? It’s not the dogs bowl. I want its. It’s their teacher, and that is ours. We like our teacher. Do you like yours? Theirs is a new house.

The possessive pronoun cannot be used alone in its defining function. It always accompanies a noun. And, conversely, the possessive pronoun in the function of a noun is always used separately and is most often used in order to avoid tautology:
I know her address, tell me his.(His = his + address)
This is his cars and that’s ours.(Ours = our + car)

Pay attention to the strict correspondence between the use of possessive and personal pronouns.
She took her bag and left.(She took her bag and left.)
The students wanted to see their papers.(The students wanted to see their work.)

With nouns denoting parts of the body, items of clothing, relatives, as a rule, possessive pronouns are used rather than the definite article.
Close your eyes. Put on your hat. This is my sister.

If you want to “pull up” your grammar, finally learn English, and if you don’t have enough language practice, then fill out an application for a free trial lesson with the best teachers on the site right now!

ex. 1 Replace the highlighted words with personal pronouns.
Example: Pete lives here. I saw Pete yesterday. -> He lives here. I saw him yesterday.

1. Alice is my girlfriend. I love Alice.
2. Jane and I saw Mark but Mark didn't see Jane and me.
3. I told Steve and Carol to come.
4. My parents liked the cat and bought the cat.
5. Why are the books on the table? Put the books on the shelf.
6. It's a nice bird. Listen how lovely the bird is singing.
7. Your friend and you are late again.
8. My sister and I are great friends.
9. I haven't seen Pete and Alex today.
10. Steve and Mark have invited my friend and me to the cinema.

ex. 2 Change the highlighted sentences or parts of sentences according to the example.

Example: This is not my pen. I want my pen. -> I want mine.

1. This is my girlfriend and that's his girlfriend.
2. Their street is not as busy as our street.
3. These are my children and those are her children.
4. My flat is smaller than their flat.
5. It's not your umbrella. It's my umbrella.
6. My telephone doesn't work. Can I use your telephone?

ex. 3Fill in the blanks with pronouns.

1. How many times a day do you brush....teeth?

2. We want him to stay with....... in summer.

3.Mr. Smart is rich........ car is very expensive.

Any personal pronoun in English has a counterpart in the form of a possessive pronoun called Possessive Pronoun. It expresses belonging and answers the question Whose? -Whose?

Possessive pronouns in English are not inflected by gender or number - their form remains unchanged, regardless of the noun or other part of speech to which it refers.

Possessive pronouns can have a dependent or independent (absolute) form. The use of such pronouns in the dependent form is possible only with the nouns to which it refers, without the use of an article.

The absolute form of possessive pronouns in English serves as a replacement for a noun and can be used independently, while the article also does not need to be placed.

An important point is that the possessive pronoun its should be written without an apostrophe, because only the abbreviation of the phrase it is is used with an apostrophe. Possessive pronouns in English, as can be seen from the table given here, can have dependent And absolute (independent) form.

Absolute form of possessive pronouns

The absolute form of possessive pronouns in English is usually used as part of of-constructions:

A sister of his- his sister

In this case, the use of a pronoun is performed as a replacement for the defined noun in order to avoid tautology.

This is his hat and this is mine. - This is his hat, and this is mine.

Possessive pronouns, used in absolute form, in English perform one of the following functions in a sentence:

1) Act as the subject:
Our cat is black and theirs is white. - Our cat is black, and theirs is white.

2) They are the nominal part of the predicate:
This chair will be mine, and that chair will be hers. - This chair will be mine, and that one will be hers.

3) Or plays the role of an addition:
Give me your pen and I"ll give you mine. - Give me your pen, and I’ll give you mine.

4) It can also serve as a definition, if supplemented by the preposition of:
Not a brother of theirs. - He's their brother.

Dependent form of possessive pronouns

The translation of the Russian possessive pronoun “svoy” is given in English by a possessive pronoun or replaced by a phrase with the word own. The phrase with own is intended to emphasize the meaning of the word “own”.

It should be noted that in such a phrase the use of the preposition of is required if the construction comes after the noun:

My own car - a car of my own

Translating the pronoun “your” into English is sometimes fraught with confusion - it can refer to any of three persons, both singular and plural. The correct translation of a possessive pronoun in English depends on the subject of the sentence.

I cleaned my shoes.- I have cleaned my shoes.

She polished her shoes.- She has cleaned her shoes.

The dependent form of possessive pronouns is often used in English, especially when followed by names of body parts, activities, items of clothing, etc. Such a possessive pronoun is not translated into Russian.

Put your hands on the table!- Put your hands on the table!

The table above will help you navigate the options for using possessive pronouns accepted in the English language.

Possessive pronouns (possessive pronouns) in English express belonging and answer the question whose? whose? For example: my - mine, your - yours etc.
They have two forms – dependent And independent. Possessive pronouns in the dependent form are sometimes called possessive pronouns-adjectives. Possessives in the independent form are sometimes called possessive pronouns-nouns.

Face	Dependent form (defines noun)	Independent form (replaces a noun)
Singular
1st person	my my, my, mine, my	mine my, my, mine, my
2nd person	your is yours	yours is yours
3rd person	his his her her its his her	his his hers her its* his her
Plural
1st person	our[ˈaʊə] our, ours, ours, ours	ours[ˈaʊəz] our, ours, ours, ours
2nd person	your yours, yours, yours, yours	yours yours, yours, yours, yours
3rd person	their[ðeə] them	theirs[ðeəz] them

*Note! Possessive pronoun its written without an apostrophe. With apostrophe ( it's) is written as an abbreviation for the phrase it is.

1. Possessive pronouns in dependent form are always used only in conjunction with corresponding nouns. not used in this case.

Examples:My dress is red. - My dress is red.
Our interview was interesting. – Our interview was interesting.

2. Possessive pronouns in independent form replace nouns with themselves, i.e. Nouns are never placed after this form. The article in this case, similarly as in the dependent form, is not used.

Examples: This is my cap. This cap is mine. - This is my cap. This cap is mine.
This is not her bag, hers is brown. - This is not her bag, it’s hers - brown.

3. When translating from Russian into English pronouns mine, there may be confusion because this pronoun can refer to all three persons, singular and plural. In order to correctly translate a pronoun, you need to pay attention to the person of the subject in the sentence.

Examples:I washed their hands. – I have washed my hands.
She washed their hands. – She has washed her hands.
I don't have a pen. You can you give me my(handle)? I have no pen. Can you give me yours?

4. In English possessive pronouns in dependent form are used more often than in Russian. They are used when the pronoun precedes the corresponding Russian nouns your(s) absent.

Examples: I told sister about it. –I told my sister about it.
He bought wife present. – He bought his wife a present.