Possessive Adjectives In Spanish (Simple Guide)

Possessive adjectives in Spanish help us identify who a noun belongs to.

They indicate ownership, and must agree in gender and number with the noun they modify.

These words can take two forms: shorter (unstressed) forms and longer (stressed) forms. Short forms come before the noun and are used in everyday speech, while long forms often follow the noun and can add emphasis or formality.

I’ll expand on these in more detail below.

Short (unstressed) Spanish possessive adjectives

A short Spanish possessive adjective is a small word before a noun that tells the listener who the Spanish noun belongs to.

This type of word and phrase must include a second component after it - the name of the noun that belongs to the person. Short Spanish possessive adjectives don’t make much sense if you don’t name the item they modify.

Just as in English, you wouldn’t say “that’s my…” or “it’s my…” without completing the sentence as it wouldn’t make sense. 😅

See the following table for short Spanish possessive adjectives.

Here are a few example sentences using short possessive adjectives:

Mi hermano es mayor que yo.

My brother is older than me.

Nuestro hemano es menor que nosotros.

Our brother is younger than us.

Su novio es extrovertido.

Her boyfriend is an extrovert.

Su novia es introvertida.

His girlfriend is an introvert.

Rules

We can see that the difference between masculine and feminine singular forms is most apparent in the first-person plural nuestro/vuestro forms.

The Spanish masculine singular forms of nuestro and vuestro end with the letter o, which helps us identify them as the masculine form.

You’ll notice that the Spanish masculine singular forms of nuestra and vuestra end in the letter a, which helps us identify them as the feminine form.

While these differences may seem obvious, they can help us when using these adjectives with the right nouns.

Gender agreement

If you’re describing the ownership of a masculine noun (which you can identify by looking at the noun’s article), you should use a masculine adjective.

If you’re describing the ownership of a feminine noun, you should use a feminine adjective.

Here are a couple of examples:

Es nuestra finca.

It's our land.

Es nuestro vino.

It's our wine.

In our first sentence, we use the feminine singular adjective nuestra because it matches the gender and number of the Spanish noun finca (la finca).

In our second sentence, we use the masculine singular adjective nuestro because it matches the gender and number of the Spanish noun vino (el vino) 🍷.

Number agreement

When describing the ownership of more than one masculine noun, you’ve got to use the masculine plural adjectives.

However, when describing the ownership of more than one feminine noun, you’ve got to use the feminine plural adjectives.

Here are two examples:

Los bolsos son vuestros.

The bags are yours.

Las casas son vuestras.

The houses are yours.

In our first sentence, we use the masculine plural adjective vuestros because there is more than one masculine noun (los bolsos).

In our second sentence, we use the feminine plural adjective vuestras because there is more than one feminine noun (las casas).

Long (stressed) Spanish possessive adjectives

Long possessive adjectives in Spanish are for emphasis or comparison (hence why they’re called “stressed”).

For example:

Esta casa es mía, pero esa casa es tuya.

This house is mine, but that house is yours.

Like the short forms, they must match the number and gender of the noun you’re discussing.

They’re also placed after the noun.

See the table below:

Emphasizing ownership

Long Spanish possessive adjectives such as mío or mía are useful for emphasizing ownership or possession.

El hijo mío es se porta muy bien.

My son behaves very well.

La hija mía se porta perfectamente.

My daughter behaves perfectly.

¡Dios mío!

My God!

These examples place stress on the possession (“MY son”).

You may also prefix your sentence with these words in Spanish when expressing possession in formal contexts:

El éxito es suyo.

The success is yours.

¿De quién es este libro? ¿Es suyo?

Who does this book belong to? Is it yours?

You’ll notice that the mode of address suyo features in these sentences.

Suyo is a formal possessive adjective that frames these examples in a formal context.

You could just as easily use these examples with the word tuyo - this would give an informal tone to the sentence.

Adjectives that show possession in Spanish are an integral part of the language, so try to remember the short and long ones.

Next see my guide on common Spanish adjectives or join the Guild by selecting Spanish as your target language.

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