Ways to show possession

Ways to show possession in English

• By using verbs (to have, to own, to possess) Ex: I have a dress. I own a car.• By using the preposition “of”

Ex: The car of Laura. The book of Miguel• By using possessive adjectives

Ex: My house. Your pen. Her mother.• By using apostrophes

In English, possession is indicated by adding an apostrophe and s (‘s) to the noun representing the possessor. Susan’s car. Ana’s shoes.

Ways to show possession in Spanish

• By using verbs (tener, poseer)

Ex: Yo tengo un libro. Ella tiene plumas.

• By using the preposition de (of/from) and its contraction del (de+el / of the). When you speak of “belonging” in Spanish, you often mean that something is part “of” or “from” something else.

The object possessed always comes before the possessor. El libro de Juan (The book of Juan or Juan’s book)

In Spanish, you do not use definite articles (el, la, los,las) in front of personal pronouns and proper nouns. You do add articles in front of Mr. Mrs. or Miss.

Personal or subject pronouns are pronouns that replace the noun or subject of the sentence like I, you, he, she, they.

Proper nouns are “name” nouns. Jill, Smith, London, are examples of proper nouns. To help you make a distinction, think of this way: “city” is a noun, but “London” is the name of a city, so it’s a proper noun.*In Spanish there are no apostrophes!!!

Since there are no apostrophes in Spanish you will have to use the preposition “de” when translating a sentence with apostrophes.

Ex: Tina’s book Hector’s pencil

The book of Tina The pencil of Hector

El libro de Tina El lápiz de Hector

The girl’s ball The student’s (f) binder

The ball of the girl The binder of the student

La pelota de la niña La carpeta de la alumna

Remember

If the noun has: ‘s it is singular; if s’ the noun is plural.

Ex: The girl’s book (Only one girl) The book of the girl

The girls’ book (More than one girl) The book of the girls

Ejercicios

Write if the noun is singular or plural Singular Plural

The boy’s

The boys’

The student’s

The students’

Ejercicios

1. The teacher’s (f) calculator (calculadora)

____________________________________

____________________________________

2. The students’(f) books___________________

____________________________________

3. The boys’ pens________________________

____________________________________

4. The girl’s binders_____________________

_____________________________________

Remember:

You need to use the contraction del when de is followed by a masculine and singular noun. Ex: The boy’s house. The house of the boy. La casa del niño.

de elEjercicios

1.The boy’s binder _____________________________

_____________________________________________

2. The teacher’s (m) school_______________________

_____________________________________________

3. The student’s (m) pencil________________________

_____________________________________________

4. The mother’s brother____________________________________________________________5. The sisters’ father______________________________________________________________6. Mr. Smith’s son________________________________________________________________7. London’s river (rio)___________________________________________________Londres.8. Mrs. William’s daughters_________________________________________________________9. The brother’s aunt______________________________________________________________

-You can also use Possessive adjectives to show possession in Spanish.

Possession of Possession of English

one object multiple objects

mi mis mytu tus your (inf)

su sus his,her,your(formal)

nuestro nuestros our (masculine)

nuestra nuestras our (feminine)

su sus their, your (pl)

In English, the adjectives used to show possession depend more on the person doing the possessing than on the items being possessed. Thus, you can use “my” to express ownership of a single item as well as many.

Ex: My book. My books. My didn’t change with a singular or plural noun.

In Spanish a possessive adjective will change depending on the number of the noun that it modifies. Ex: Mi libro. Mis libros

Mi is used with singular nouns, while mis is used with plural nouns.

• Possessive adjectives always come before the possessed noun.

Ejercicios

1. My sister______________________________

2. My sisters_____________________________

3. Their brother___________________________

4. Their brothers__________________________

5. Your (formal) father______________________

6. Your (informal) mother___________________

7. His sister______________________________

8. Her cousin (m)_________________________

9. Our parents___________________________

10. Our aunt____________________________

11. Our uncle____________________________

12. Our grandparents______________________

13. Your (pl) cousins(f)____________________

14. Your (formal) cousins(m)________________

15. Their cousins (m and f)__________________

16. My stepmother________________________

17. His sister____________________________

18. Your (inf.) son________________________

19. Our children__________________________

Remember es=is and son=are

1. La hija de mi hermana es mi______________

2. El hermano de mi padre es mi_____________

3. La madre de mi mamá es mi______________

4. Los hijos de mi tía son mis_______________

5. El padre de mi madre es mi______________

6. La esposa de mi hijo es mi_______________

7. Los hijos de mi hija son mis_______________

8. El padre de mi hermana es mi_____________

9. Los hijos de mis hermanos son mis________

Nombres y apellidos/names and last names

Socorro Aguilar Silva Tita Peña Flores

Jose Rodriguez Juan Araiza

Ana L.Rodriguez Aguilar Juan M. Araiza Peña

Cecilia Araiza Rodriguez (Cecilia de Manley)

Brendan ManleyRyan Manley Araiza Kyle Manley Araiza Brendan Manley Araiza

Possessive pronouns

• Possessive pronouns can replace nouns or phrases.Ex: It is Jose’s hat. It is his hat. It is his.

poss. adj. poss. pronounThe word his is a possessive adjective because His is a possessiveit is modifying the noun hat. pronoun because it

replaced the noun hat;

it can stand on its own.

It is Jose’s hat.

Es el sombrero de Jose (use de because there aren’t apostrophes in Spanish)

It is his hat.

Es su sombrero (su is a possessive adj.)

It is his.

Es suyo (suyo is a possessive pronoun because it took the place of the noun sombrero / hat)

• Like possessive adjectives, possessive pronouns reflect the number of items possessed. However, they must also agree in gender. It is the gender and number of the items possessed that determines the gender of the possessive pronoun.

• It is my house. It is mine

Es mi casa. Es mia

poss.adj. poss. pronoun