Possessive Adjectives: My, Your, His, Her, Its, Our, Their
Use possessive adjectives — my, your, his, her, its, our, their — directly before a noun to show who or what something belongs to. Covers the full paradigm and the core rule for choosing the adjective over the pronoun form.
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Yolanda loves ___ son very much.
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her
Before a noun, use the possessive adjective — 'her son'.
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Daniel always parks ___ car in the garage.
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his
Before a noun, use the possessive adjective — 'his car'.
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The children have finished ___ homework.
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their
Before a noun, use the possessive adjective — 'their homework'.
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We painted ___ kitchen a bright yellow last weekend.
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our
Before a noun, use the possessive adjective — 'our kitchen'.
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I can't find ___ keys anywhere this morning.
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my
Before a noun, use the possessive adjective — 'my keys'.
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Is this ___ coat? It was lying on the floor.
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your
Before a noun, use the possessive adjective — 'your coat'.
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I borrowed ___ pen because mine had run out of ink.
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his
Before a noun, use the possessive adjective — 'his pen'.
Possessive Adjectives: My, Your, His, Her, Its, Our, Their
A possessive adjective is a determiner that goes directly before a noun to show ownership: my keys, her son, their homework. English has seven possessive adjectives, one for each subject pronoun: I → my, you → your, he → his, she → her, it → its, we → our, they → their. Unlike possessive pronouns (mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs), which replace a noun, possessive adjectives never stand alone — they always modify the noun that immediately follows them. Learners who are already comfortable with subject and object pronouns sometimes substitute the wrong form in this position, producing sentences like 'I can't find mine keys' or 'Daniel parks him car' instead of the correct possessive adjective.
The Full Paradigm
she → her | it → its | we → our | they → their
Possessive Adjective + Noun
A possessive adjective is always followed by a noun (or an adjective and then a noun). It cannot appear at the end of a clause with nothing after it — that position requires a possessive pronoun instead.
Daniel always parks his car in the garage.
The children have finished their homework.
We painted our kitchen a bright yellow.
I can't find my keys anywhere this morning.
Is this your coat? It was lying on the floor.
His and Its: Same Form, Two Jobs
His and its are unusual because they serve as both the possessive adjective and the possessive pronoun without changing form: 'This is his car' (adjective) and 'This car is his' (pronoun) use the identical word. No other possessive in English behaves this way — every other adjective/pronoun pair (my/mine, your/yours, her/hers, our/ours, their/theirs) changes form when the noun is dropped.
Common Mistakes
✗ Daniel always parks him car in the garage. → ✓ Daniel always parks his car in the garage.
✗ The children have finished theirs homework. → ✓ The children have finished their homework.
✗ I can't find mine keys anywhere. → ✓ I can't find my keys anywhere.
✗ Is this yours coat? → ✓ Is this your coat?
Last updated: · Satori Editorial