Possessive Pronouns (mine, yours, hers...)

Possessive Pronouns (mine, yours, hers...)

Possessive pronouns show who owns something. They are: mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs. They stand alone. No noun comes after them.

Structure

• Possessive adjective + noun: my, your, his, her, our and their go before a noun. Example: my book, your pen.
• Possessive pronoun (statement): subject + be + possessive pronoun. Example: This book is mine.
• Possessive pronoun (question): be + subject + possessive pronoun? Example: Is this pen yours?

How the Grammar Works

1. Most possessive adjectives have a pair: my → mine, your → yours, her → hers, our → ours, their → theirs. Example: This is my bag. The bag is mine.
2. Use mine, yours, hers... when we already know the noun. Example: Whose bag is this? It's mine. It's my bag is also correct. It's mine avoids repeating the word bag.
3. His is the same in both places. Example: his car and The car is his.
4. For it, we use its before a noun. We do not use its alone. Example: The cat likes its bed.

Common Use Cases

• Answering Whose...? questions: Whose keys are these? They're hers.
• Talking about different people's things: My bag is red. Yours is blue.
• Avoiding repetition: This isn't my coat. Mine is black.

Frequent Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

• A noun after a possessive pronoun. Incorrect: This is mine book. Correct: This is my book. or This book is mine. Why: mine does not go before a noun.
• A possessive adjective at the end, with no noun. Incorrect: This bag is her. and Is this pen your? Correct: This bag is hers. and Is this pen yours? Why: with no noun after it, we need the pronoun.
• An apostrophe in a possessive pronoun. Incorrect: This bag is her's. and The book is their's. Correct: This bag is hers. and The book is theirs. Why: yours, hers, ours and theirs never have an apostrophe.

Comparison with Related Grammar

• Possessive adjectives (my, your, her...) come before a noun. Example: my car.
• Possessive pronouns (mine, yours, hers...) have no noun after them. Example: The car is mine.

Example Sentences

• That umbrella isn't mine.
• This is our house. That house is theirs.
• Is this seat yours?
• The blue bag is his, not hers.
• These tickets are ours.

When to Use This Rule

Use mine, yours, his, hers, ours and theirs to say who owns something. Do not put a noun after them.