A1
mi, tu, su — possessives
How Spanish possessive adjectives agree, why su is ambiguous, and when to use the article instead.
| singular | plural | |
|---|---|---|
| my | mi | mis |
| your | tu | tus |
| his / her / your / their | su | sus |
| our | nuestro / nuestra | nuestros / nuestras |
| your (Spain) | vuestro / vuestra | vuestros / vuestras |
They agree with what is owned
Only in number, for most of them — mi and tu and su have no separate feminine.
mis libros
my (pl.) books
my books
nuestra casa
our (f.) house
our house
Only nuestro and vuestro change for gender.
mis casa
mi casa
The agreement is with casa, which is singular. The owner having several things elsewhere makes no difference.
su is ambiguous, and Spanish lives with it
Su libro is his book, her book, their book or your book. Context normally settles it, and where it does not, Spanish adds de él, de ella, de usted.
el libro de ella
the book of her
her book
Body parts and clothes take the article
Where English says my hands, Spanish says the hands and leaves the owner to the verb.
Me lavo las manos.
myself I-wash the hands
I wash my hands.
Lavo mis manos.
Me lavo las manos.
The reflexive already says whose. Mis manos here sounds like you are being oddly specific about which hands you mean.
de is how Spanish says whose
There is no possessive -s.
el coche de mi padre
the car of my father
my father’s car