BUDLING
All grammar topics
Share

Possessive Adjectives

1 min
A1
CEFR A1·other

Formula

→
I → my
you → your
he → his
she → her
it → its
we → our · they → their

Examples

Positive
This is my book.
Negative
It is not your phone.
Question
Is this their house?

Usage

  • •Show ownership or relationship before a noun
  • •Always followed by a noun (my car, her brother)
  • •No -s on possessive adjective even with plural noun: "my books" not "mys books"

More Examples

  • My sister lives in London.

    Family relationship

  • Their dog is very friendly.

    Group ownership

  • The cat licks its paws.

    Animal/object — "its" no apostrophe

  • Is this your jacket?

    Asking about ownership

  • Our school starts at 8 AM.

    Shared possession

Common Mistakes

  • ✗Confusing "its" (possessive) and "it's" (it is): "Its raining" should be "It's raining".
  • ✗Using object pronouns instead: "Me book" should be "My book".
  • ✗Adding -s for plural noun: "mys books" should be "my books".

Tips

  • ✓Possessive adjectives NEVER take an apostrophe: my, your, his, her, its, our, their.
  • ✓Trick for "its" vs "it's": if you can replace it with "it is", use "it's" with the apostrophe.

Advanced Notes

Possessive adjectives are determiners, not pronouns — they modify a noun and can't stand alone ("That's mine" uses possessive pronouns; "That's my" is incomplete). The its/it's confusion is the single most common written error in English, made by native speakers as often as learners. "Their/there/they're" is a related trap. Note that "her" does double duty as both possessive adjective ("her bag") and object pronoun ("I saw her"), which can cause ambiguity.

Quiz loads as you scroll…

Compare With

Object Pronouns: Me, You, Him, Her, It, Us, Them(A2)