Episode #151 Wie Sprachen uns verändern In dieser Episode möchte ich darüber sprechen, wie das...
Episode #132
PossessivPRONOMEN
Which are the German possessive pronouns and how do you use them in the German language?
They are used to indicate ownership or possession. In German, there are different forms of possessive pronouns that are used depending on the gender and number of the noun they refer to.
So is it der, die or das Katze? You need to know the gender as well as the case that the noun is in.
This can sometimes be challenging for learners of the language, but with practice, it can become more natural.
Some of the most common German possessive pronouns include:
- mein (my)
- dein (your)
- sein (his/its)
- ihr (her/their)
- unser (our)
- euer (your, plural)
These pronouns are also inflected according to the case of the noun.
So, in summary, German possessive pronouns play a significant role in communicating ownership or possession. Understanding their usage is an important step in becoming proficient in German.
First let’s look at this beautiful table, that hopefully confuses you a little bit. 
Good news though, you don’t need to learn the table. There is a trick.
Do you remember the endings from the articles? You need just take the ending from the articles and put them at the end of the possessive pronouns.
Ich spiele mit dem Hund.
And now lets use an example with a possessive pronoun:
I play with my dog = Ich spiele mit meinem Hund.
The dog is masculine (der Hund) and mit is a preposition after which we always use the dative case.
So looking a the table we find meinem.
Beispiele: Nominativ
die Pflanze (the plant)
das Buch (the book)
der Stift (the pen)
Das ist meine Pflanze. (That’s my plant.)
Das ist mein Buch. (That’s my book.)
Das ist mein Stift. (That’s my pen.)
Das ist ihre Pflanze. (That is her plant.)
Das ist sein Buch. (That is his book.)
Das ist unser Stift. (That is our pen.)
Beispiele: Akkusativ
die Pflanze (the plant)
das Buch (the book)
der Stift (the pen)
Ich habe meine Pflanze verkauft. (I have sold my plant.)
Ich habe mein Buch verschenkt. (I gave my book away.)
Ich nehme meinen Stift in die Hand. (I pick up my pen.)
Beispiele: Dativ
die Pflanze (the plant)
das Buch (the book)
der Stift (the pen)
Ich helfe meiner Pflanze. (I help my plant.)
Ich lerne Philosophie mit meinem Buch. (I learn philosophy with my book.)
Ich gebe meiner Frau einen Stift. (I give my wife a pen.)
