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Possessive pronouns replace a noun entirely to demonstrate ownership or belonging — saying mine instead of my book. They stand completely alone in a sentence. For the A1 level, you only need to master how they function in two foundational cases: the Nominative and the Accusative.

The Crucial Difference: Possessive Article vs. Possessive Pronoun

Mixing these two up is the most common beginner mistake. The difference lies strictly in how they are positioned in the sentence.

Possessive Article

Stands directly before a noun

It accompanies the noun — the noun is still present in the sentence.

Das ist mein Hund. This is my dog.
Possessive Pronoun

Replaces the noun entirely

The noun is gone — the pronoun stands completely alone.

Das ist meiner. That is mine.

The Base Stems

Every German personal pronoun has a corresponding possessive base stem. Case-dependent endings are attached to these stems.

ich → mein-
du → dein-
er / es → sein-
sie (she) → ihr-
wir → unser-
ihr → euer- becomes eur- when an ending is added
sie / Sie → ihr- / Ihr- capitalise Ihr- for formal Sie
NOM

Nominative Case

When the possessed noun is the subject

In the Nominative, the ending of the possessive pronoun mirrors the grammatical gender of the noun it is replacing. Note that while long forms like meines exist, native speakers almost exclusively use the short -s forms — meins, deins, seins — in both spoken and written German.

Owner Masculine (der) Feminine (die) Neuter (das) Plural (die)
ichmeinermeinemeinsmeine
dudeinerdeinedeinsdeine
er / esseinerseineseinsseine
sie (she)ihrerihreihrsihre
wirunsererunsereunsersunsere
ihreurereureeureseure
sie / Sieihrer / Ihrerihre / Ihreihrs / Ihrsihre / Ihre
Wem gehört der Stift? — Das ist meiner. Whose pen is this? — That is mine. (masculine noun → -er ending)
Ist das die Tasche von Maria? — Ja, das ist ihre. Is that Maria's bag? — Yes, it's hers. (feminine noun → -e ending)
Wo ist dein Auto? — Meins steht dort drüben. Where is your car? — Mine is over there. (neuter noun → -s ending)
AKK

Accusative Case

When the possessed noun is the direct object

When the replaced noun acts as the direct object of a verb, the pronoun shifts to the Accusative. For A1 learners, there is only one change to memorise: the masculine form takes the -en ending. Feminine, neuter, and plural forms are completely identical to the Nominative.

Owner Masculine (den) Feminine (die) Neuter (das) Plural (die)
ichmeinenmeinemeinsmeine
dudeinendeinedeinsdeine
er / esseinenseineseinsseine
sie (she)ihrenihreihrsihre
wirunserenunsereunsersunsere
ihreureneureeureseure
sie / Sieihren / Ihrenihre / Ihreihrs / Ihrsihre / Ihre
The only change: Masculine goes from -er (Nominative) to -en (Accusative). Everything else stays identical. If you know the Nominative table, you already know 75% of the Accusative.

Practice

Type the correct possessive pronoun for each sentence, then press Check Answers.

Fill in the possessive pronoun

The noun being replaced and the owner are indicated in each question.

  1. 1 Wem gehört der Stift? — Das ist . (ich, masc., nom.)
  2. 2 Ist das Marias Tasche? — Ja, das ist . (sie, fem., nom.)
  3. 3 Wo ist dein Auto? steht dort. (ich, neut., nom.)
  4. 4 Ich habe keinen Stift. — Nimm ! (ich, masc., akk.)
  5. 5 Das ist nicht eure Wohnung — das ist . (wir, fem., nom.)
  6. 6 Hast du deinen Schlüssel? — Nein, ich nehme . (er, masc., akk.)