“Himmelblau oder dunkelblau wie der Koffer da?” ( Light blue like the sky or dark blue like that suitcase over there?) you ask her, pointing at a suitcase that a lady is wheeling in the direction of the Lost & Found, getting in the line right next to you. The agent asks her what her suitcase looked like. You offer to keep an eye on the carousel, while Irina settles the issue. “ Unsere Koffer sind da.” ( Yes, our suitcases are here). He is talking to you and Santiago at the same time, using the polite plural form, so the possessive adjective becomes “ Ihre”. “Waren Ihre Koffer denn auf dem Band?” ( Were your suitcases on the carousel?). He turns to you and Santiago and asks the two of you: Let’s put that theoretical knowledge into practice! While you’re standing at the Lost & found, the agent has a couple of questions. German storytime with possessive adjectives If she says “ Ich habe meinen Koffer verloren (I’ve lost my suitcase), the suitcase becomes the object and changes accordingly: mein → meinenĭepending on the case and gender of the noun, the possessive adjective changes like this: Type So when Irina said, “My suitcase was not on the baggage carousel” - “ Mein Koffer war nicht auf dem Gepäckband”, her suitcase is the subject of the sentence. Keep in mind that possessive adjectives, just like other adjectives, change with the noun they describe. How possessive adjectives change with case and gender Here is a German possessive adjective chart that will help you figure out exactly which possessive adjectives go with which possessors. Your suitcase is your suitcase, Santiago’s suitcase is his suitcase, and Irina’s suitcase is hers - lost or otherwise. Note that in German, possessive adjectives are also usually categorized as possessive pronouns, specifically as adjectivally used possessive pronouns. So when your friend Santiago said “ Das ist meiner”, he could have also said “ Das ist mein Koffer” but the pronoun “ meiner” replaced the “ Koffer”. Maybe you still remember from our fun guide to 9 different types of German pronouns that pronouns always replace a noun. The suitcase is the noun and the possessive adjective “ mein” tells the other person whose suitcase is lost. In this case that’s the noun’s possession. Sometimes a distinction is made between possessive adjectives and possessive pronouns.Īdjectives describe a noun or give it a certain attribute.
What’s the difference between possessive adjectives vs possessive pronouns? You all walk up to the Lost & Found and Irina tells the nice man there: “ Mein Koffer war nicht auf dem Gepäckband.” ( My suitcase was not on the baggage carousel).
You have just collected your suitcase when your friend Santiago spots his: “ Das ist meiner”, he says in German ( That one is mine) - but poor Irina is still waiting for hers. You’re especially excited about the delicious German food but before you even make it out of the airport, you're already facing your first challenge! You and two of your new friends from class have been saving up to fly to Germany, where you’ll mingle with the locals to practice your German. Let’s say you successfully completed your last day of German class. Learning German isn’t always easy, especially when it comes to complex grammar, but we’ll show you that possessive German adjectives are a lot more simple than they sound.Ī possessive adjective is an adjective that attributes ownership to its respective noun: My, your, his, her, its, our, their. What are possessive adjectives in German? We promise knowing them will come in handy when you find yourself in a German-speaking country, testing out your German skills in person because you’ll soon realize that it’s almost impossible to have a conversation without possessive adjectives! Those of us who aren’t big grammar buffs might be asking ourselves “What are possessive adjectives in German and why do I even need them?” If black-on-white charts work for you, that’s great! We’ll cover that for you - but if you’re looking for a different learning style, we have a little story for you that will hopefully make learning possessive German adjectives a breeze. One way to learn possessive German adjectives is to print out a German possessive adjective chart to study every night before bedtime - but for some of us, this is a safe way to give yourself nightmares of someone yelling at you in German “MEIN! DEIN! NEIN!” So we have a much better solution!Įveryone has their own unique learning style and the best way to succeed at language learning is to incorporate more than one way.
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