Possessivartikel, or possessive articles in German, are used to show ownership or possession of something. They are the equivalent of “my,” “your,” “his,” “her,” “its,” “our,” and “their” in English. In German, possessive articles need to match the gender (der, die, das), number (singular or plural), and case (nominative, accusative, dative, or genitive) of the noun they are referring to.
Here are the possessive articles in German for each personal pronoun:
- ich (I) — mein (my)
- du (you, informal singular) — dein (your)
- er (he) — sein (his)
- sie (she) — ihr (her)
- es (it) — sein (its)
- wir (we) — unser (our)
- ihr (you, informal plural) — euer (your)
- sie (they) — ihr (their)
- Sie (you, formal singular & plural) — Ihr (your)
Let’s look at an example in each case, using “das Buch” (the book, neuter noun):
- Nominative: Das ist mein Buch. (This is my book.)
- Accusative: Ich lese dein Buch. (I am reading your book.)
- Dative: Das steht in seinem Buch. (It is written in his book.)
- Genitive: Das ist die Farbe ihres Buches. (This is the color of her book.)
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Quiz – Possessivartikel:
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