Possession

Spanish possession
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Posesión

Spanish has has several different possessive constructions, which can seem daunting until you realize that English does too – you’ve probably just never thought about them before. This page offers a quick summary of the different ways to express possession in Spanish; click the links for detailed explanations about how to use each possessive form.

Possessive adjectives

Used with nouns to explain who something or someone belongs to.

Es mi coche.   It’s my car.
¿Son las llaves tuyas?   Are these your keys?

Possessive pronouns

Replace possessive adjectives + nouns:

Es lo mío.   It’s mine.
¿Son las tuyas?   Are these yours?

Possessive de

Aside from the fact that they have numerous forms for different grammatical persons, gender, and number, possessive adjectives and pronouns are pretty similar in Spanish and English.

However, to say that something belongs to someone, where you would use ‘s or s’ in English, in Spanish you have to use the preposition de. In addition, you have to invert the possessor and the possessee and put de between them.

el coche de Pablo   Pablo’s car (literally, the car of Pablo)
las llaves de mis padres   my parents’ keys (literally, the keys of my parents)

Relative adjective cuyo

Cuyo means "whose," "of whom," or "of which." It indicates the noun which is the object of the clause that follows it.

David, cuyo hermano es abogado, acaba de llegar.   David, whose brother is a lawyer, has just arrived.
Tu amiga, cuyas niños están en Francia …   Your friend, whose kids are in France …

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Possession in Spanish

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