Mein, dein, sein: whose is it?

Whose passport does “Ihren Reisepass” refer to?

Take a look

Haben Sie Ihren Reisepass dabei?Do you have your passport with you?
Er ist wütend auf seinen Bruder.He is angry with his brother.
Meine Familie ist sehr groß.My family is very big.

The rule

Mein, dein, sein and ihr show who owns something. The beginning depends on the owner: Haben Sie Ihren Reisepass dabei? Er ist wütend auf seinen Bruder. The ending depends on the following noun and its role in the sentence. Compare Meine Familie ist sehr groß. Learn the possessive word together with the noun rather than on its own. The table first shows the basic forms for each owner.

Remember: The owner sets the beginning; the noun sets the ending.

Goes with lesson 3, 5, 16 of the course.

What differs for you

English my, your and his show the owner, so the first part of German mein, dein and sein is familiar. English my does not change with the gender or case of the following noun. German does: “mein Chef” but “meine Familie”, and as a masculine object “seinen Bruder”. Choose the owner first, then the ending for the German noun.

The forms

Owner and basic form

Besitzer	Form
ich	mein
du	dein
er	sein
sie	ihr
wir	unser
ihr	euer
sie/Sie	ihr/Ihr

Common mistakes

*mein Mutter → meine Mutter.
*Er ist wütend auf sein Bruder. → Er ist wütend auf seinen Bruder.

Quick check

Which form fits? Haben Sie ___ Reisepass dabei?
1. Ihren
2. Ihrem
3. Ihre
Answer
Ihren — “Reisepass” is a masculine direct object, so the possessive ends in -en: “Ihren”.
Which form fits? Er ist wütend auf ___ Bruder.
1. sein
2. seinen
3. seinem
Answer
seinen — “Bruder” is a masculine direct object, so the possessive ends in -en: “seinen”.
Which form fits? ___ Familie ist sehr groß.
1. Mein
2. Meinen
3. Meine
Answer
Meine — “Familie” is a feminine subject, so the possessive ends in -e: “Meine”.
Which form fits? ___ Chef ist sehr nett.
1. Mein
2. Meinen
3. Meine
Answer
Mein — “Chef” is a masculine subject, so the possessive stays “Mein”.
Which form fits? Sie ist ___ beste Freundin.
1. meinen
2. meine
3. mein
Answer
meine — “Freundin” is a feminine subject, so the possessive ends in -e: “meine”.

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Terms

Possessive pronoun: A word that shows belonging: my book, your house.
Article: A short word before a name for a thing: the dog, a dog.
Grammatical gender: German nouns belong to one of three groups: der Tisch, die Lampe, das Haus.

BeforeReflexive verbs AfterJoin sentences with weil and dass

Word classes

Der, die, das and ein, eine A1Why do different words appear before nouns?→Nouns, verbs and adjectives A1What do “Suppe”, “spiele” and “groß” tell you?→Plural nouns A1What changes in “Brüder” and “Kinder”?→Personal pronouns A1Personal pronouns replace nouns and indicate the person.→Adjective endings A2Why “einen roten Mantel” but “eine freundliche Person”?→Groß, größer, am größten A2What does “am liebsten” mean compared with “gern”?→

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