Purpose

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to correctly use German possessive adjectives, matching them to the noun they describe.

Lesson Explanation

German possessive adjectives correspond to the personal pronouns, and take the same gender-based endings as ein/kein (Part 1, Lesson 5; Part 3, Lesson 2):

mein  (masc./neuter) / meine (fem./plural)  — my
dein  / deine  — your (informal)
sein  / seine  — his
ihr   / ihre   — her

Example: mein Hund (my dog, masculine), meine Katze (my cat, feminine), mein Buch (my book, neuter).

A genuinely important, specific point mirroring French’s possessive system (though the actual words differ): sein and ihr match the gender of the noun being possessed, not necessarily the owner in every context — sein Buch means “his book,” while ihr Buch means “her book,” genuinely distinguishing the owner’s gender here, unlike some other languages’ equivalent structures.

Practice Questions