10.2 Accentuated
and unaccented possessive pronouns
For the
adjectival possessive pronouns the term unaccentuated
personal pronouns is used. Some grammar books use the
term adjectivos posesivos
(adjectival possessive pronouns) and
pronombres possessivos (possessive pronouns).
The following table shows the unaccented personal pronouns.
As you can see the personal pronouns
refer to the number, and in the first and second person
plural the gender of the object that is owned.
There is no difference between
his, her and their. You will find out only from the context,
which one is meant. Some more examples:
Example
Te
regalo mi coche. = I give you my car.
Ven nuestra casa. = They see our house.
Ven nuestras casas. = They see our houses.
Venden sus libros.= They sell his, her or
their books.
Habéis robado
mis libros. = You have stolen my books.
Bajan de su coche.= They get out of his, her or their car.
Ven su coche. =
They see his, her or their car.
Ven sus libros. = They see his, her or their books.
The accentuated personal pronouns
do not describe a noun, but they substitute them fully.
Accentuated
possessive pronouns
Spanish
English
singular
mía
mío
plural
mías
míos
singular
mine
mine
plural
mine
mine
tuya
tuyo
tuyas
tuyos
yours
yours
yours
yours
suya
suyo
suyas
suyos
his
his
hers
hers
his
his
hers
hers
nuestra
nuestro
nuestras
nuestros
ours
ours
ours
ours
vuestra
vuestro
vuestras
vuestros
yours
yours
yours
yours
suya
suyo
suyas
suyos
theirs
theirs
theirs
theirs
The English does not differentiate
in number or in gender using the possessive pronouns.
Also the accentuated possessive pronouns have to be
in accordance with the owned object in gender and number.
Again we can't see a difference between his,
hers and theirs.
Example
Es
el mío y no el tuyo.
= That's
mine not yours.
¿Este bolígrafo
es tuyo?
= Is this pen yours?
Podemos ver el tuyo,
pero no el nuestro.
= Yours we can
see but not ours.
Tu coche es nuevo,
pero el suyo es muy viejo.
= Your car
is new but his, hers or theirs is very old.
Ocúpate de lo tuyo
y yo de lo mío. = For yours we can pay 1000 € but for
his, her or theirs nothing.
Por el tuyo podemos
pagar 1000 € pero por el suyo nada.
= Take care
of your stuff not of mine.
Additionally there is the possibility
that the accentuated possessive pronoun is used together
with a noun. In those cases it is put after the noun
that is described and not before it. One possibility
for this kind of construction is when the noun has an
undefined article, meaning that the noun is not defined.
Example:
undefined noun
Es un amigo mío.
= This is a friend
of mine.
Uno de los bolígrafos es nuestro. =
One of the pens is ours.
Una de nuestras casas fue destruida. =
One of our houses was destroyed.
Furthermore the accentuated personal
pronoun is used when the phrase includes a noun with
a demonstrative pronoun.
Example:
noun with demonstrative pronoun
Este bolígrafo es
mío. = This
pen is mine.
Esta casa es nuestra.
= This house is ours.
Estos coches son vuestros, si pagáis
los 10000 €.
= The cars are yours if you pay 10,000 €.
