Possessive Pronouns: meiner, meine, meins
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Learn how standalone German possessive pronouns replace a noun that has already been mentioned. Practise forms by owner, case, gender, and number in short answers and questions with gehören.
Explanation
Possessive determiner or possessive pronoun?
A possessive determiner comes before a noun: Das ist mein Regenschirm.
A possessive pronoun replaces the noun and stands alone: Der Regenschirm ist meiner. This avoids repetition when the object is already known.
- Ist das dein Fahrrad? - Ja, das ist meins.
- Gehört die Jacke Nora? - Ja, das ist ihre.
- Sind das eure Tickets? - Ja, das sind eure.
Choosing the stem
The stem shows who owns something:
| Owner | Stem |
|---|
| ich (I) | mein- |
| du (informal you, singular) | dein- |
| er / es (he / it) | sein- |
| sie (she) | ihr- |
| wir (we) | unser- |
| ihr (informal you, plural) | euer- / eur- |
| sie (they) | ihr- |
| Sie (formal you) | Ihr- |
With euer-, the second e normally disappears before an ending: eurer, eure, eures. Formal Ihr- is capitalized.
Endings
The ending depends on the case, gender, and number of the noun being replaced. This table shows the pattern with mein-:
| Case | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural |
|---|
| Nominative | meiner | meine | meins / meines | meine |
| Accusative | meinen | meine | meins / meines | meine |
| Dative | meinem | meiner | meinem | meinen |
| Genitive | meines | meiner | meines | meiner |
Both meins and meines are possible in the neuter nominative and accusative; meins is especially common in everyday speech.
How to choose the correct form
- Identify the owner and choose the stem.
- Recall the noun being replaced: what is its gender or number?
- Identify the case in the sentence.
- Add the correct ending.
- Der Koffer gehört mir. Er ist meiner. (nominative masculine)
- Ich nehme den roten Koffer, nicht deinen. (accusative masculine)
- Mit meinem komme ich gut zurecht. (dative neuter: das Gerät)
- Die Handschuhe dort sind unsere. (nominative plural)
With gehören, the owner is in the dative: Das Tablet gehört ihr. In the answer, however, the possessive pronoun agrees with the object it replaces: Es ist ihres.
Exercises
- Complete the standalone possessive pronoun. First identify the owner, then the case, gender, or number of the noun being replaced. (11)
- Write a complete question with a possessive pronoun. The possessive pronoun replaces the object that has already been mentioned. (11)
A2 · German · Grammar