Lesson 6. It’s mine, not yours!
Possessive pronouns and possessive adjectives
Whose is this?
Possessive adjectives
The words ‘my’, ‘your’, ‘his’, ‘her’, ‘its’, ‘our’, and ‘their’ are called possessive adjectives. They are used to show ownership or possession and are used before a noun in the sentence. These adjectives answer the questions “Whose is this? or “Whose are these?”
Here’s how you can use them:
- My book is on the table.
- This is your pencil.
- The cat is washing its paws.
- She is brushing her hair.
- He forgot his backpack.
- We love our new teacher.
- They ride their bikes to school every day.
Remember, possessive adjectives are different from possessive pronouns. Possessive adjectives are used with a noun, while possessive pronouns stand alone.
Get some practice.
In the first black square, match the pairs. In the second, match the phrases.
Possessive pronouns
Possessive pronouns are words that we use to show something belongs to someone. They are words like ‘mine’, ‘yours’, ‘his’, ‘hers’, ‘its’, ‘ours’, and ‘theirs’. These pronouns answer the questions: “Whose is this?”, “Whose are these?” or “Whose things are these?”, and “Whose thing is this?”.
For example:
- This book is mine.
- The cat is yours.
- The house is ours.
Read A Short Text
Pay attention to the words in bold.
Lisa and Tom are best friends. They both have beautiful toys. Lisa has a teddy bear. The teddy bear is hers. Tom has a toy car. The toy car is his. They also have a big toy house that they play with together. The toy house is theirs.
Practice.
Put the pronouns into the right carts.
Summarizing the rules
Here’s a simple way to understand the relationship between pronouns, possessive adjectives, and possessive pronouns:
| Pronoun | Possessive Adjective | Possessive Pronoun |
|---|---|---|
| I | my (book) | mine |
| you | your (book) | yours |
| he | his (book) | his |
| she | her (book) | hers |
| it | its (book) | its |
| we | our (book) | ours |
| they | their (book) | theirs |
Let’s look at some more examples:
- Pronoun: I have a book.
- Possessive Adjective: This is my book.
- Possessive Pronoun: This book is mine.
- Pronoun: She has a cat.
- Possessive Adjective: This is her cat.
- Possessive Pronoun: This cat is hers.
Practical Exercises
Translate
Match the Russian and the English sentences.
Translate from Russian to English.
