Possessive Adjectives in English: The Rules

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When studying English, we sometimes find that the grammar rules work differently than in Spanish, as is the case with possessive adjectives. In these situations, trying to translate is of no use; instead, we have to iceland phone number list to “think in English” using the new rules. And for that, the only thing that helps is… practice, practice, practice! So today we are going to review the rules for possessive adjectives in English and practice with exercises.


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Possessive adjectives in English: the basic rules
The first thing you need to know to understand possessive adjectives in English is that they refer to the person who possesses and not to the thing possessed. Depending on the person they refer to, they are the following:

First person singular: my. I brush my teeth every day.
Second person singular: your. Your new shirt is very beautiful . Remember that in English we do not distinguish between informal (you) and formal (you).
Third person singular: his / her / its. Her brother goes to the new gym. This is where many headaches come from for Spaniards, as we tend to confuse them. Remember that his is used when the possessor is a man, her when it is a woman and its when it is a thing (or in some cases, for animals).
First person plural: our. Our town is far away from the coast.
Second person plural: your. Your names are Peter and Sandy . In addition to being the same as the singular, it also does not distinguish between formal and informal.
Third person plural: their. Their English teacher seems very nice .
To use possessive adjectives correctly in English , you will have to remember two other very simple rules:

As with adjectives in general (like new or tall , for example), possessive adjectives do not have a plural in English. That is, we do not change the possessive adjective depending on whether it goes with a singular or plural noun: my book / my books.
Remember that possessive adjectives always go before the noun, or you'll sound like Yoda! For example, my car is red , never car my is red .
It is also important to note that there are possessive pronouns in English: my, your, his, her, its, our, their, whose . If you want to know more about this topic, you can visit the article Pronouns in English: I, me, mine…Do you know them all? .