A Quick Guide to Using Possessive Pronouns in English

Possessive pronouns are the simplest words we can use to express possession and to answer the question “Whose?”

Whose device are you reading this article on? It’s probably yours.

Whose idea was it to throw a ball inside the house? It definitely wasn’t mine!

What are possessive pronouns? Whether you’ve heard of possessive pronouns and are having a tough time using them, or you’ve been relying mainly on apostrophe ‘s’ to express possession, this article presents an easy-to-follow guide to possessive pronouns and how to use them correctly.

What are possessive pronouns?

The use of possessive pronouns is one way to express a relationship of ownership between two nouns in English.

Like personal pronouns, possessive pronouns are used in place of a noun. They include the words mine, yours, his, hers, ours and theirs.

For an introduction to pronouns, read through our overview on using pronouns in everyday conversation.

Possessive pronouns list

The table below shows possessive pronouns next to their respective subject pronouns for easy reference:

You’ll notice that the subject pronoun it doesn’t have a corresponding possessive pronoun. That’s because this pronoun typically refers to an object, an idea or an animal – later in the article, you’ll read about other ways to express possession which you can use to describe attributes of or ownership by an object, idea or animal.

When to use possessive pronouns

The role of possessive pronouns is to help us shorten sentences and avoid repetition while getting our point across. The possessive pronoun used in a sentence refers to a noun that owns or ‘possesses’ another noun.

Take a look at the example below:

A: Whose phone is this?
B: The phone belongs to the student.

Let’s rewrite the same example using a possessive pronoun:

A: Whose phone is this?
B: The phone is his.

Using the possessive pronoun his allows us to answer the question “Whose phone is this?” with a shorter response. You can further shorten the answer by using the subject pronoun it to replace ‘the phone’ in the response:

A: Whose phone is this?
B: It’s his.

Possessive pronouns help us a lot when speaking, but we’re only able to use them when there’s some context to tell us who the ‘owner’ of the object in the sentence is.

In the example above, we would only be able to use the possessive pronoun if we already knew who his refers to, either because the person being referenced is pointed out through body language, or because they were the subject of the discussion to begin with. Here’s an example:

A: What did Rob tell you?

B: He was asking about the notes from the last class.

A: Whose phone is this? (Pointing to a phone left on a table.)

B: Oh, it’s his. He must have forgotten it.

In the above exchange, we understand that his refers to Rob, since speakers A and B were just talking about him.

If there is no context for the listener to understand who the possessive pronoun refers to, then it’s better to use a different structure, as in the following example:

A: Whose phone is this?
B: It belongs to Sarah.

Sarah is not in the room and hasn’t been mentioned in the conversation, so it’s better to use belongs to + the noun instead of the possessive pronoun hers.

Choosing the correct possessive pronoun

Now that you have a better idea of when and when not to use possessive pronouns, let's discuss how to choose the correct possessive pronoun.

You should follow the rules of pronoun agreement when replacing a noun with a possessive pronoun. The chosen pronoun should share the grammatical person, gender and number of the noun being replaced.

Here are some possessive pronoun examples to illustrate their use.

When referring to something you own (using ‘first-person’), use the possessive pronouns mine and ours:

A: That’s a beautiful car parked on the street.
B: Thank you, it’s ours.
A: Really? Mine is a bit old. Maybe I should replace it!

Ours is the equivalent of ‘belongs to us,’ and mine means ‘the car I own’ in this sentence.

The second-person possessive pronoun yours is used when referring to one person or multiple people who you are talking to directly:

A: Paula, I love what you did with the kitchen!
B: Yours was what inspired me to change it!
A: Really? When did you and Sean decide to renovate yours?

In the second sentence, yours is used as a singular pronoun referring to Paula’s kitchen. The third sentence uses yours as a plural pronoun referring to Paula and Sean’s kitchen.

When referring to someone who is not part of the conversation (also called ‘third person’), use the possessive pronouns theirs, his, and hers.

A: We just received the requested reports from the accounting department, one from James and the other from Lily.
B: I read through both, but I think hers is much more detailed than his.
A: Out of all the reports provided by each department, theirs were the only ones submitted on time. I think they did a great job!

Each of the possessive pronouns in this example effectively conveys whose report is being discussed without the need to repeat the nouns.

Other ways to express possession in English

Possessive pronouns make it easy to express ownership without repeating ourselves. However, there are other ways of expressing possession in English – turn to these when possessive pronouns are not appropriate.

Showing ownership using ‘of’ and apostrophe ‘s’

Before mastering possessive pronouns, English learners often use the word ‘of’ and are taught the apostrophe ‘s’ structure to express possession. Both of these structures will only work to show possession from the third-person point of view.

The ‘of’ structure is formed by placing the preposition of between the thing and the person or people who ‘own’ it.

Examples of ‘of’ phrases:

• The driver of the car was a teenager.
• Today is the anniversary of their wedding.

This structure is useful when you talk about possession by animals, objects or concepts, which cannot be written with possessive pronouns. Here are some more examples:

• The legs of the table are a bit short.
• The color of the wall is not suitable for the room.
• The paws of the dog are not clean!

‘Of’ possessive phrases are an easy way to express possession because they are similar to the possessive structure in other languages. However, we don’t usually use this form to describe possession by a person.

Instead, we use the apostrophe ‘s’ form, which is a more common way of expressing possession in English. We simply add an apostrophe (’) and the letter ‘s’ to the ‘owner’ of a noun, followed by the noun itself.

Examples of apostrophe ‘s’ form:

• Incorrect: The birthday of Ronald is in September.

• Correct: Ronald ’s birthday is in September.
  

• Incorrect: The hair of Mary is red.

• Correct: Mary ’s hair is red.

If you’re using the apostrophe ‘s’ structure with a plural noun that ends in the letter ‘s,’ simply place the apostrophe after the ‘s’ and don’t add any additional letter:

• The girls’ school break starts next month. (Not “The girls’s school break….”)
• The windows’ size is perfect for the wall. (Not “The windows’s size….”)

If you’re not yet ready to use possessive pronouns, you can stick to using apostrophe ‘s’ like in these examples.

Possessive adjectives

Possessive adjectives are another way to show possession in English. Unlike possessive pronouns, they cannot express possession on their own – they are always followed by the noun they’re describing. Here’s a list of the possessive adjectives:

• my
• our
• your
• its
• his
• her
• their

Notice in the following examples how each underlined possessive adjective is followed by a noun:

• My daughter is in high school.
• Our next trip will be to Japan!
• A good performance will demonstrate your value to the company.
• The set of pens is missing one of its colors.
• Have you seen his latest performance on the screen?
• Would you like to try one of her cakes?
• Their most expensive product is on sale on Black Friday!

Notice in the last example that the phrase ‘most expensive’ comes between the possessive adjective ‘their’ and the noun ‘product.’ The possessive adjective will always come before any other words that go in front of the noun.

Also, watch out for spelling errors with the possessive adjective its, which is different than it’s (‘it is’):

Incorrect: It’s large size makes the elephant one of the biggest land animals.
Correct: Its large size makes the elephant one of the biggest land animals.

Incorrect: Its impossible for me to finish the report on time!
Correct: It’s impossible for me to finish the report on time!

Using possessive adjectives is a great way to express the possessive if you’re struggling with possessive pronouns. (Check out our article on possessive adjectives to learn more.)

Practice using possessive pronouns with confidence

Possessive pronouns can save you tons of time and effort, and we hope you’ll start practicing using them to improve your English speaking skills. Remember, you can use possessive pronouns to show ownership of a noun, as long as the ‘owner’ of the noun is clear to the listener or reader based on context.

If you’re still struggling with possessive pronouns, it’s fine to stick with possessive adjectives or apostrophe ‘s’ to describe possession. You can also use ‘of’ (as in, ‘the driver of the car’) – just try not to use this form when the ‘owner’ of the noun is a person (as in, ‘the hair of Mary’).

What’s the best way to learn possessive pronouns? By practicing using real examples with possessive pronouns. With a little practice, you’ll master these in no time.