Spanish Possessive Pronouns

We have already learnt in the last post the Spanish possessive adjectives (short forms)

Now we are going to learn the long forms of possessive adjectives and the possessive pronouns.

There are different forms of possessive pronouns depending on whether the noun is masculine or feminine, singular or plural:

*As you can see both “our” and “ours”, “your” and “yours” (plural,informal) mean “nuestro” and “vuestro” in Spanish, they don´t change.

Possessive pronouns specify to whom the object of the reference point belongs to.

Whereas long forms are adjectives, follow the noun that modify and are used for emphasis or contrast, possessive pronouns replace the possessive adjective and they are accompanied by a definite article (el, la, los, las).

Possessive adjectives long forms:

Un buen amigo mío. A good friend of mine. (of mine, of yours, etc. translates into long forms)

Ese problema es tuyo. That problem is yours.

Possessive pronouns:

Tu perro y el mío son Buenos amigos. You dog and mine are good friends.

Mi hermano vive en Brasil, ¿y el tuyo? My brother lives in Brasil, and yours?

Mi casa tiene tres baños y la suya dos. My house has three bathrooms and hers two.

¿Te gusta mi casa? No, me gusta la nuestra. Do you like our house? No, I like ours.

Watch out! The definite is usually omitted after the verb ser:

Este libro es mío.

Este libro no es tuyo.

Suyo and the related forms can be confusing, since they can mean "his," "hers," "yours," "theirs" or "its." When context doesn't make its meaning clear, the possessive pronoun can be omitted and replaced by a prepositional phrase as follows:

El libro rojo es suyo. The red book is hers.

El libro rojo es de ella (clarified).

Los zapatos caros son suyos. The expensive shoes are theirs.

Los zapatos caros son de ellos (clarified)

Finally you must remember: de + el (definite article) are contracted to form "del," but, de + él (pronoun) are not contracted.

The dog is his.

El perro es suyo.

El perro es de él (clarified)