How to use possessive pronouns in German?

In German, possessive pronouns are used to express ownership in sentences like Das ist meins! (meaning That's mine!). Just like the English possessive pronouns (e.g. “mine” or “hers”), German possessive pronouns take the place of a noun and indicate something about who owns that noun.

In English, possessive pronouns have just one form. In German, possessive pronouns change their form by adding endings. But here’s the good news: the forms and endings are a lot like those of the German possessive adjectives (German words like “my” or “your”).

Curious about how that works? In this post, we’ll review the difference between possessive pronouns and possessive adjectives and the dictionary forms of the possessive pronouns, as well as their endings. Let’s get started!

Possessive pronouns and possessive adjectives are both little words that can be used to express who owns something, but they are used differently.

• A possessive adjective stands before the noun:

  possessive adjectivenoun

  Das ist meine Zahnbürste!

  Translation: That’s my toothbrush!

• A possessive pronoun takes the place of the noun:

  possessive pronoun

  Das ist meine!

  Translation: That’s mine!

If you want to express possession correctly in German, it’s important to remember this difference! Even though the forms of possessive pronouns and adjectives are sometimes the same (as above), this will not always be the case!

In German, a possessive pronoun consists of a dictionary form + an ending. If you have already learned the dictionary forms of the German possessive adjectives, you are in luck — they are the same! If you haven’t, then don’t worry: there are only nine forms to learn. Once you combine them with a set of endings, you’ll have every form you need. Here are the dictionary forms:

Possessive pronouns will have one of five possible endings: -r, -e, -s, -n, or -m. Take a look at the possible forms the dictionary form mein can take when combined with those endings:

Here are a few tips to keep in mind, when you add the endings:

• You may notice that you generally need to insert an -e- before the endings -r, -n, and -m. This aids pronunciation by avoiding unpronounceable forms like ❌meinm.

  meiner, meinen, meinem

• Notice that, unlike the possessive adjectives, all the German possessive pronouns will have one of the endings! There are no possessive pronouns that are just the dictionary form!

As we’ll see below, though, in most cases, the forms of German possessive adjectives and possessive pronouns are exactly the same!

In German, the case of a possessive pronoun reflects the grammatical function of the pronoun in a sentence. For example, a possessive pronoun might be a…

• Subject → use nominative case

• Direct object → use accusative case

• Indirect object → use dative case

The ending you’ll use on a given possessive pronoun in German will depend on its case and its grammatical gender or number. The gender and number of the pronoun depends on the gender or number of the noun it replaces.

The mnemonic below (which will be familiar if you’ve read our post on German definite articles) will help you remember which ending to use for each role and noun gender:

Here’s how to apply it to the dictionary form of any pronoun. If you read the endings, left to right, you’ll get each section of the mnemonic!

And now, let’s see some examples of possessive pronouns in action!

• Follow these step-by-step instructions that will help you say “Hers is here,” when referring to a book:

  1. “Hers” is the subject of the sentence, so you need the first section of the mnemonic → RESE

  2. The word for “book” is das Buch in German, so Buch is neuter → we know that we need an ending that applies to a neuter noun → -s

  3. The German dictionary form for “hers” → ihr

  4. Add the ending to the dictionary form → ihrs

  5. Add it to the German sentence → Ihrs ist hier. (meaning Hers is here.)

• Here’s how to say, “Can I have yours, Anna?” when referring to a pencil.

  1. “Yours” is the direct object, so you need the NESE section of the mnemonic.

  2. The word for “pencil” is der Bleistift, so it’s masculine → -n

  3. The dictionary form for “yours” (singular, informal) → dein

  4. Add the ending to the dictionary form → deinen (don’t forget the e before the ending!)

  5. Add it to the German sentence → Kann ich deinen haben, Anna? (meaning Can I have yours, Anna?)

Here are a few more examples of possessive pronouns replacing nouns:

• Possessive pronoun as a subject:

  Speaker A:

  Mein Eis hat Vanillegeschmack.

  Translation: My ice cream is vanilla-flavored.

  Speaker B:

  Meins hat Erdbeergeschmack.

  Translation: Mine is strawberry-flavored.

• Possessive pronoun as a direct object:

  Speaker A:

  Wir besuchen unseren Onkel in Berlin.

  Translation: We’re visiting our uncle in Berlin.

  Speaker B:

  Wir besuchen unseren in Frankfurt.

  Translation: We’ll visit ours in Frankfurt.

• Possessive pronoun as an indirect object:

  Speaker A:

  Anna schenkt ihrem Onkel Blumen.

  Translation: Anna gives flowers to her uncle.

  Speaker B:

  Marie schenkt ihrem Schokolade.

  Translation: Marie gives chocolate to hers.

In this post, we discussed:

• Possessive pronouns are distinct from possessive adjectives.

• Possessive pronouns replace nouns.

• Possessive pronouns consist of dictionary forms and endings.

• The endings can be remembered with the mnemonic RESE — NESE — MRMN.

Are you ready to use what we’ve discussed? Check out our German possessive pronouns activities, or review their forms with the table of German possessive pronoun declensions!