A2Word classes

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?

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.

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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 Muttermeine Mutter.
*Er ist wütend auf sein Bruder.Er ist wütend auf seinen Bruder.

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Quick check

Which form fits? Haben Sie ___ Reisepass dabei?
Which form fits? Er ist wütend auf ___ Bruder.
Which form fits? ___ Familie ist sehr groß.
Which form fits? ___ Chef ist sehr nett.
Which form fits? Sie ist ___ beste Freundin.

The answers appear after “Check”.

The same exercises come back in the course — there Langula remembers what you know and asks again at the right moment. Learn German free →

← Grammar

Word classes

A1Der, die, das and ein, eineWhy do different words appear before nouns?A1Nouns, verbs and adjectivesWhat do “Suppe”, “spiele” and “groß” tell you?A1Plural nounsWhat changes in “Brüder” and “Kinder”?A1Personal pronounsPersonal pronouns replace nouns and indicate the person.A2Adjective endingsWhy “einen roten Mantel” but “eine freundliche Person”?A2Groß, größer, am größtenWhat does “am liebsten” mean compared with “gern”?

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