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Day 13 of 90

My, your, and whose

Possessives, and family. About 10 minutes. Grammar: mi, tu, su, and de.

Spanish has no apostrophe s. Ownership is built with de, and the possessive words agree with the thing owned rather than with the owner, which is the reverse of what English does.

The possessive words

Four to learn, and they agree with what is owned.

mi hermano, mis hermanosmy brother, my brothersmi has no separate feminine form. Only the plural changes.
tu casa, tus casasyour house, your housesInformal your. No accent, unlike tú meaning you.
su librohis, her, your polite, or their bookOne word covering four owners. Context does the rest.
nuestro padre, nuestra madreour father, our motherThe only one with four forms: nuestro, nuestra, nuestros, nuestras.
Why it works this way

mis hermanos is plural because there are several brothers, not because there are several of me. The possessive agrees with the thing owned. That is why nuestra madre is feminine when the mother is female regardless of who the we are, and it is the single most common place English speakers get this wrong.

Whose, with de

There is no apostrophe s, so ownership is built backwards.

el libro de AnaAna's bookLiterally the book of Ana.
la casa de mi hermanomy brother's houseChains happily: la casa de la madre de Ana.
¿de quién es?whose is it?Literally of whom is it.
es de ellait is hersUseful when su would be ambiguous.
Why it works this way

Because su covers his, her, your and their all at once, Spanish reaches for de when it needs to be clear. su casa could be four different houses, so el libro de ella or la casa de usted removes the doubt. Learners often avoid de because it feels clumsy, and native speakers use it constantly for exactly this reason.

Family

The nouns these possessives will attach to most.

la madre, el padre, los padresmother, father, parentslos padres is parents, not fathers. A masculine plural covers a mixed group.
el hermano, la hermanabrother, sisterlos hermanos is siblings.
el hijo, la hijason, daughterlos hijos is children in the sense of offspring. niños is children by age.
el abuelo, la abuelagrandfather, grandmotherlos abuelos is grandparents.
Why it works this way

A masculine plural covers a mixed group, so los hermanos can be two brothers or a brother and a sister. This means Spanish cannot distinguish them without adding words, and it is why someone will say tengo dos hermanos and then have to clarify. It is not ambiguity the language minds, and asking ¿hombres o mujeres? is completely normal.

tener, not have got

Family is described with tener: tengo dos hermanos, tengo una hija. There is no equivalent of have got and no auxiliary at all, so the sentence is two words. You will meet tener properly tomorrow, where it also turns out to run age, hunger and cold.

Carry these forward

Four lines from today that later days assume you know.

mi hermanomy brother
el libro de AnaAna's book
¿de quién es?whose is it?
mis padresmy parents

Check yourself

Eight questions. Finishing them marks the day done.

Question 1 of 8

My brothers is

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