my, your, his, her, its, our, their
We use possessive determiners to show who owns or "possesses" something. The possessive determiners are:
- my, your, his, her, its, our, their
Warning! These are determiners . Don't confuse them with possessive pronouns.
Like all determiners, possessive determiners come at the beginning of a noun phrase, so they come in front of any adjective.
Look at these example sentences:
| possessive determiner with gender (Male, Female, Neuter) | example sentence | |
|---|---|---|
| SINGULAR | ||
| my | M/F | This is my book. |
| his | M | His name is John. |
| her | F | Her first name is Mary. |
| its | N | The dog licked its wounded paw. |
| PLURAL | ||
| our | M/F | We have sold our house. |
| their | M/F/N | The students thanked their Thai teacher. |
| SINGULAR or PLURAL | ||
| your | M/F | I like your hair. Your two children are lovely. |
Be careful with these three possessive determiners:
| possessive determiner | contraction (sounds the same) |
|---|---|
| 1. your: This is your book. | you're (you are): Hurry up! You're late! |
| 2. its: The dog licked its paw. | it's (it is/it has): It's coming. (It is coming...) It's arrived. (It has arrived...) |
| 3. their: Which is their house? | they're (they are): They're waiting. (They are waiting...) Also note there as an adverb: |
Be careful! There is NO apostrophe (') in the possessive determiner its . We use an apostrophe to write the contraction of "it is" or "it has". For example:
it is raining → it's raining
it has finished → it's finished
I'm taking my dog to the vet. It's broken its leg.
it is raining → it's raining
it has finished → it's finished
I'm taking my dog to the vet. It's broken its leg.
sources : Original Link