Some textbooks and grammars will refer to possessive adjectives as “possessive determiners” or “possessive articles” instead. In older books, you may even see them called “possessive pronouns,” (though this term is usually reserved for words like “mine” or “hers” instead).
German Articles
German possessive adjectives: What they are and how to use them?
By: Ulrike Carlson Thu Jun 05 2025
German possessive adjectives are words like mein(my), dein(your), or ihr(their). Just like their English equivalents, they are used to express ownership and other kinds of possession.
Imagine you’re at baggage claim in the airport: “Mein Koffer!”(my suitcase!), you yell as a stranger lifts it off the baggage carousel. He quickly returns it: a possessive adjective has saved the day.
But while the use of possessive adjectives in German and English is similar in some ways, German possessive adjectives are a bit more complex because each possessive adjective in German will have several different forms.
In this post, we’ll review the forms of German possessive adjectives and go over how to use them in sentences. Keep reading to learn a short and uncomplicated way to always choose the correct form!
Table of Contents
What are possessive adjectives in German?
Possessive adjectives are words that, like “my” or “your” in English, describe the owner of a nounNo definition set for nounLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum..
possessive adjectivenoun
Das ist mein Auto und das ist dein Fahrrad.
This is my car and this is your bike.
The first step to mastering possessive adjectives in German is to learn their dictionary forms. Take a look, the table below shows the nine dictionary forms of German possessive adjectives:
Possessive Adjectives | English |
|---|---|
mein | my |
dein | your (singular) |
|
|
unser | our |
euer | your (pluralNo definition set for pluralLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.) |
ihr | their |
Ihr | your (formal, singular or plural) |
Did you notice?
The German forms for “his” and “its” are the same: sein
The forms for “her” and “their” are the same: ihr. The polite form of “your” is very similar but is always capitalized: Ihr.
Three German possessive adjectives can be translated as “your”: dein for one person, euer for more than one person, and Ihr for addressing someone formally.
Ist das dein Hund, Martin?
Is that your dog, Martin?
Ist das euer Hund, Tim und Anna?
Is that your dog, Tim and Anna?
Ist das Ihr Hund, Herr Schneider?
Is that your dog, Mr. Schneider?
⤷ By any other name…
Just like in English, the dictionary form you should use will depend on the owner/possessor of the noun:
Is it your uncle’s house? → sein[his]
Is this gift basket addressed to the two of us? → unser[our]
However, in German, unlike in English, you’ll often need to add endings to the dictionary form. These endings will depend, instead, on the role the possessed noun plays in the sentence. Let’s look at these endings.
What endings to use with possessive adjectives in German?
For possessive adjectives, there are six possible endings: no ending, -e, -n, -m, -r, and -s. (Yes, ”no ending” counts as an ending.) Combine the nine dictionary forms with one of these endings, and you will get every possible instance of a possessive adjective. For example:
mein_
meine
meinen
meinem
meiner
meines
How do you know which ending to use? You’ll need to look at the possessed noun’s genderNo definition set for genderLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. and its role in the sentence. Keep reading to find out more!
Important
Did you notice the extra vowel? To avoid words that can’t be pronounced, we insert an -e- between the dictionary form and the ending. Whew! ✅Meinen is definitely easier to say than ❌meinn!
Tip
Usually, when you combine an ending with the dictionary form euer, you omit the -e- before the -r-:
✅eure / euren
❌euere / eueren
But you may still see the latter forms occasionally. You may also see the -e- that follows after the -r- omitted instead: e.g., euern.
Which ending to use for a German possessive adjective?
While the dictionary form of a German possessive adjective depends on the owner, the ending will depend on the gender and case (grammatical role) of the possessed noun. Here’s how it works:
Gender → German has three different noun genders: masculine, feminine, or neuter. The forms of words that modify a noun can depend on that noun’s gender.
Case → German as four different cases: nominative, accusative, dative, and genitive. A noun’s “case” will depend on the role that it plays in the sentence, broadly:
SubjectNo definition set for SubjectLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. → nominative case
Direct objectNo definition set for Direct objectLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. → accusative case
Indirect objectNo definition set for Indirect objectLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. → dative case
Possessor → genitive case
Different combinations of gender and number will yield different possessive adjective endings.
That quickly leads to a lot of different forms! Possessive adjectives are often presented in a table with 80 or so different words.
However, I’ve always found it easier to teach them as dictionary forms combined with endings. That way, there aren’t 80 words to learn but just a few dictionary forms, endings, and a handy mnemonic on how to use them.
If you’ve read our post on German definite articles, you may recall this great mnemonic:
RESE
NESE
MRMN
SRSR
Unfortunately, while this mnemonic works perfectly for definite articles and some other German forms, it doesn’t quite work for possessive adjectives. For these, we need to adapt it a bit, because some forms of possessive adjectives do not have an ending.
This is the adapted version for possessive adjectives:
_E_E
NE_E
MRMN
SRSR
Here is how the second version of the mnemonic works:
Case | Mnemonic | Possessive Adjectives (read from left to right ⟶ ) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Masculine (der words) | Feminine (die words) | Neuter (das words) | Plural | ||
Nominative | _E_E | mein_ | meinE | mein_ | meinE |
Accusative | NE_E | meineN | meinE | mein_ | meinE |
Dative | MRMN | meineM | meineR | meineM | meineN |
Genitive | SRSR | meineS | meineR | meineS | meineR |
Imagine you want to say “I see his uncle.”
“his uncle” is the direct objectNo definition set for direct objectLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. of the sentence, so you need the second section of the mnemonic: NE_E
“Uncle” is masculine in German — der Onkel — so you should pick the first ending in that section: N = -(e)n
The dictionary form for “his” is sein.
Add the ending to the dictionary form (including the -e- for pronunciation)
✅seinen
So the full sentence is: Er sieht seinen Onkel.
Tip
Want to see that big table with all the possible forms? Check out this table with all the forms of the German possessive adjectives.
Here are some more examples of possessive adjectives in different roles in the sentence. Think about how you would use the mnemonic above to figure out the appropriate ending for teach one!
Mein Onkel besucht mich heute.
My uncle is visiting me today.
→ Onkel is the subject (nominative case)Wir besuchen unseren Onkel.
We’re visiting our uncle.
→ Onkel is the direct object (accusative case)Anna schenkt ihrem Onkel eine Tafel Schokolade.
Anna gives her uncle a bar of chocolate.
→ Onkel is the indirect object (dative case)Das Auto eures Onkels ist kaputt.
Your uncle’s car is broken.
We’re visiting our uncle.
→ Onkel is the direct possessor (genitive case)
Summing up
Let’s take a look at what we’ve covered in this article:
Think of possessive adjectives as combinations of a dictionary form and endings.
There are nine dictionary forms: mein, dein, sein, ihr, sein, unser, euer, ihr, Ihr
There are six endings: no ending, -e, -n, -m, -r, -s
The form of the possessive adjective depends on the noun, gender, and role of the associated noun.
To find the right ending, you can use a mnemonic (“Ree-see, nee-see, merman, sir sir!”).
Are you ready to use what we’ve discussed? Check out our German possessive adjectives activities to test your knowledge! Or review what you’ve learned using this table of German possessive adjectives. Happy learning!
