Possessive Adjectives with Examples

What Are Possessive Adjectives?

They are basically the following words: my, your, his, her, its, our, your, and their. They are used to talk about ownership or possession of something.

Examples:

• I will give you my bike.
• Where is your watch?
• Can I come to their home?
• That’s her cat.
• I meet his cousin last night.
• Our house is large.

Adjectives or Pronouns?

Possessive adjectives are often confused with possessive pronouns.
To avoid this mistake, consider the following table that helps to distinguish them:

Subject Pronouns		I	You	He	She	It	We	You	They
Possessive	Adjectives	My	Your	His	Her	Its	Our	Your	Their
	Pronouns	Mine	Yours	His	Hers	Its	Ours	Yours	Theirs

• Possessive adjectives are the words my, your, his, her, its, our, your and their.
• Possessive pronouns are the words: mine, yours, his, its, ours, yours, theirs.

More Examples:

• My father is a policeman.
• I fixed your broken laptop. 
• His wife is very annoying. 
• Is that her new car?
• I love Christmas with its exciting atmosphere. 
• Our house is large.
• I really like your kids because they are very respectful.
• I was in their town and it is very beautiful.

Types of Pronouns:

Compare the possessive adjectives with the rest of other pronouns using the following table:

Personal pronouns	Possessive adjectives	Possessive pronouns	Reflexive pronouns	Object pronouns
I	My	Mine	Myself	Me
You	Your	Yours	Yourself	You
He	His	His	Himself	He
She	Her	Hers	Herself	Her
It	Its	Its	Itself	It
We	Our	Ours	Ourselves	Us
You	Your	Yours	Yourselves	You
They	Their	Theirs	Themselves	Them