Possessive Pronoun

Definition: A pronoun that indicates possession, ownership or close relationship between the noun it represents and some other person or entity. In the sentence "Hers is the red one," ("El suyo es el rojo" in Spanish), "hers" (suyo) is a possessive pronoun. In both English and Spanish, possessive pronouns are closely related to similar (or identical) possessive adjectives.

In English, these are the six possessive pronouns:

• Mine
• Yours
• His
• Hers
• Its (infrequently used as a pronoun)
• Ours
• Theirs

In Spanish, there are five possessive pronouns, all of them inflected for number and gender:

• Mío, mía, míos, mías (mine)
• Tuyo, tuya, tuyos, tuyas (yours)
• Suyo, suya, suyos, suyas (yours, his, hers, theirs, that or those which belong to it)
• Nuestro, nuestra, nuestros, nuestras (ours)
• Vuestro, vuestra, vuestros, vuestras (yours)

In both Spanish and English, possessive pronouns can be used as subjects or objects or following a form of the verb "to be" or ser. In Spanish, possessive pronouns are frequently preceded by the definite article, as in "El mío es verde" ("Mine is green"), where el is the definite article (which typically means "the").

Also Known As: Pronombres posesivos in Spanish.