Possessive pronouns are important in all languages as they substitute noun phrases that indicate possession. Think about possessive pronouns in English. "Is that your coffee?" a colleague asks. "Give me the toy back! It’s mine," a child cries. German possessive pronouns operate similarly and fall into two major categories:

• dependent - possessive adjectives or Possessivartikel (that come before nouns), e.g. English my/your/his/her/its/our/their
• independent - possessive pronouns or Possessivpronomen (that replace nouns), e.g. English mine/yours/his/hers/its/ours/theirs

One needs to learn German grammar with all the personal pronouns as we as remember that German possessive pronouns change inflection based on the number, case, and gender. While Possessivartikel and Possessivpronomen are the same in their base form, they acquire distinct endings in a sentence. Also, a possessive adjective behaves similarly to an indefinite article, while a possessive pronoun is reminiscent of a definite article.

In their fun dialogue format, our German instructor Birgit and her American student Alex are digging into German pronouns to make them easy for you.

Before We Start

- Hi Alex! Welcome to today’s class on German possessive pronouns.

- Oh my, another nightmare for a foreigner.

- Look who’s joined us – Herr Whiny. Anyway, I’ll start with a question. "Wie trinkst du deinen Kaffee?"

- "Ich trinke mein schwarz. Und du?"

- Aha, you junkie! If you omit a masculine noun and only use a German possessive pronoun, it should replace the respective article. Thus, your sentence should sound as follows: "Ich trinke meinen schwarz"("I drink mine black"). "Der Kaffee" is a masculine noun, and you need to make it clear.

- Hmm… Why not "meiner Kaffee" then?

- Do you remember grammatical cases? It's Accusative, and you need to blend the "der" article into the German possessive pronoun and decline it according to the grammatical case. Let’s try another one: "Mein Lieblingsfrühstück ist Müsli mit Milch."

- Ok. "Meines ist eine Tasse Kaffee und ein Croissant."

- Great! Now, you’ve grasped the pattern, let’s proceed with more complex stuff. I know you’re eager to.

- Can't wait...

The Complex Stuff: Pronouns and Four Cases

To use German possessive pronouns correctly, we need correct endings. It’s worth reviewing the base possessive pronouns first though.

- I’m sure you know all the nine German possessive pronouns, but just give them to me...

- ...in a table?

- ... no...

- It is a table, isn't it, Frau Tables?

- I'm a big fan of tables, it can't be helped!

- Have you tried a shrink...?

Table #1 – Nine German Possessive Pronouns

- Okay, one table. No more today, okay?

- You wish.

The Nominative Case or Der Hund ist seiner

- The easiest of all, the Nominative case (or Nominativ auf Deutsch) implies that the possessive pronoun performs the role of the subject. It also means that this possessive pronoun is the focus of the sentence – "Der Kaffee ist meines." Let’s start with this video episode where people share their biggest dream:

Example #1

- Mein größter Wunsch ist tatsächlich Gesundheit, und das ist alles.
- Ja, meiner auch.

- (My biggest wish is health, and that's it.)
- (Yes, mine too.)

- That seems self-explanatory. I should be able to deal with it, too, at least with a table in front of me.

- Excuse me?

- Don't even...

- Are you asking me for a table?

- Damn it...

- Are you sure you're Alex? Or do we have an Invasion of the Body Snatchers situation here?

Table #2a – Possessivpronomen in Nominative

- Okay, my turn.

- And now he's volunteering with examples. You have been snatched for sure.

- Heh, that just gave me an idea for an example sentence: Mein größter Wunsch wäre einen Zwillingbruder zu haben. Und was ist deiner, Birgit?

- Meiner wäre Weltfrieden.

- You make me feel bad for my dumb wishes.

- I don’t care your wishes are dumb as long as your grammar is smart. You paid attention to the article (der) with the word wish and blended it into the German possessive pronoun (mein). You’ve also caught that difference between mein as a possessive adjective and a possessive pronoun. I’d still like you to provide a sentence example with the neuter gender as there’s something specific about it.

- Hmm... What about Das Buch ist meines?

- Exactly! By the way, the -es ending is considered a formal one in contemporary German. It's often reduced to -s in the Nominative case. So, you'd normally encounter Das Buch ist meins. Now, how would you turn this sentence into one with a Possessivartikel (mein)?

- Do you mean Das ist mein Buch?

- Exactly. Although you’ve used a correct possessive pronoun, I‘m still tempted to give you another table to be on the safe side. Mind that only the masculine gender and neutral gender nouns are different in this context.

- Of course, you are, Birgit.

Table #2b – Possessivartikel in Nominative

- I’m reluctant to admit it, but this one’s easy. You just decline the possessive pronoun dein the way you decline the indefinite article ein: ein Buch – dein Buch

- I always said the German language is easy.

- Heh, right. Es sind Birgits Wörter. Die Wörter sind ihre (These are Birgit’s words. The words are hers).

The Genitive Case or Der Hund meines Bruders

- Alex, how would you say "my brother’s dog" in German?

- I want to say mein Bruders Hund, but you wouldn’t ask me this if it was that easy.

- A great logic path, Alex! Indeed, the German Genitive case is quite different from the English one. You rarely use the possessive -s ending to indicate possession unless it’s a proper noun – e.g., Birgits Hund (if you do, you need no apostrophe). Instead, you should use Genitive – Der Hund meines Bruders.

- Oh, boy, my brain hurts. Just give me a table, Birgit.

- Oh, so I guess my tables are useful, after all? Well, well, well, look how the tables have turned.

- Even your puns are table related, that's quite amazing.

Table #3 – Possessivpronomen/-artikel in Genitive

- And now comes another table for Possessivartikel, right?

- Nope. Possessivartikel and Possessivpronomen only behave distinctly in Nominative and Accusative.

- Hmm… Die Erklärung meiner Lehrerin ist fantastisch (My teacher’s explanations are fantastic!). By the way, when do we add the -es ending to the noun phrase, like you did with the noun Bruders?

- We only add the –(e)s ending for der and das nouns. But be careful: some (weak) masculine nouns take on the -en ending instead:

• der Mensch / person
• der Student / student
• der Nachbar / neighbor
• der Held/ hero
• der Herr / Mr.
• der Pilot / pilot
• der Buddhist / Buddhist  
• der Philosopher / philosopher
• der Junge / boy
• der Glaube / belief
• der Name / name
• das Herz / heart

- Right. The most structured language in the world obviously had to have a bucketload of exceptions.

- Well, hello there, Herr Whiny! Weak nouns are rather simple. They have identical endings (-n) in plural forms and singular forms of the following three cases: Genitive, Dative, and Accusative.

- Yeah, it’ll take me a year to memorize them.

- And that's not everything regarding Genitive. We also have a couple of prepositions that call for this specific case. Remember the correct ending for the possessive pronouns. Here is a sampling:

- A sampling?

- Yeah, to cover all of them, we’d need a separate lesson.

- I need to go scream into a pillow.

- Feel free to do so. But, before you do, please pick two and give me your sentence examples.

- What a difficult choice. Let’s try the ones I'm familiar with: Wegen meiner Lehrerin bin ich jetzt gestresst.

- You’re hilarious Alex. What’s the second example?

- Trotz ihrer Bemühungen spreche ich kein Deutsch.

- How come? These two sentences prove otherwise. You do speak the language, Alex.

- Yeah, like a kindergartener.

- You're as whiny as one, that's for sure.

The Dative Case or Danke meiner Lehrerin

- Dative case marks an indirect object in a sentence and answers the "whom?" question. An indirect object may come either with or without a preposition: a) Sie trinkt gerne Wein mit ihrem Freund, und ich trinke Wein mit meinem or b) Was gibst du deinem Freund zum Geburtstag? Ich kaufe meinem eine Flasche Wein.

- I wouldn’t say no to a glass of wine right about now…

- What about another table? This time with Dative inflections?

- Can I drink a glass of Merlot at said table?

- You’ll earn one when you’ve understood German possessive pronouns and possessive adjectives along with their endings. Pinky-promise.

- Deal. At least I have something to look forward to. It should only take me seven years.

Table #4 - Possessivpronomen/-artikel in Dative

- I bet there’s a bunch of prepositions I need to use Dative with.

- Just a few:

By the way, here’s a nice example of Dative with von:

Example #2

- Zu seinem Geburtstag hätte Alex gerne eine Weltreise. Leider bekommt Alex dieses Geschenk von seinen Freunden nicht.

- Wow! Have you been secretly learning German with another teacher? If not, how can you explain this perfect word order, great use of the German Subjunctive hätte, and fantastic inflections of the possessive adjectives?

- What can I say. Ich mache alles, um meine Deutschlehrerin glücklich zu machen.

- I’m speechless. Bravo!

The Accusative Case or Ich habe meinen.

- The Accusative case is easy as it mostly coincides with Nominative, except when the substituted noun belongs to the masculine gender. The Accusative case is used for possessive pronouns serving as direct objects. While a direct object in English is expressed by means of word order alone, German has inflections: Brauchst du seinen Stift? – Nein, ich habe meinen.

- And here comes a table, ladies and gentlemen!

- Right you are, Herr Smarty-Pants!

Table #4a – Possessivpronomen in Accusative

- Let me instantly give you the last table – for possessive adjectives. A disclaimer: it’s super easy and only differs for one gender.

 Table #4b – Possessivartikel in Accusative

- Gott sei dank! I thought the Lord had forsaken me, but here He is doing wonders. Let me try to compare the two via an example.

- And here he is! Herr Diligent has come to replace Herr Whiny. Go ahead!

- Right. Gib mir dein Buch bitte, und ich gebe dir meins.

- Perfect. Now to the last part – prepositions with Accusative. Before you start bickering with me, there are only a few, and you already know them:

• bis
• durch
• für
• gegen
• ohne
• um
• entlang

Für is encountered so often that you might intuitively use it correctly. I mean, when you listen to this interview, it pops up in many sentences (für ihre Rolle, für meine Eltern, etc.):

Example #3

- Ohne deine Hilfe könnte Alex nichts auf Deutsch verstehen. Ohne seine, würdest du nie so viel lachen.

- That’s true, Alex! You constantly make me laugh. I told you, once you’ve mastered German articles and adjectives, this stuff was going to be a piece of cake.

Wrapping Up

I agree that possessive pronouns and possessive adjectives sound challenging at first, like anything in the German language. However, with a few tables, a bit of explanation, and a couple of examples, you'll use them freely in no time. Mind that German native speakers resort to them a lot. You would seldom hear them say "Dein Hund ist älter als mein Hund" (Your dog is older than my dog). Instead, they’ll opt for "Dein Hund ist älter als meiner" (Your dog is older than mine). People won’t go with "Seine Eltern wohnen gegenüber von unseren Eltern." They’ll prefer "Seine Eltern wohnen gegenüber von unseren." Germans are known for their practical solutions, and they optimize everything. Do you want to sound like a native speaker? Emulate this pattern.

Last but not least, here are three golden rules from Birgit on how to use a correct possessive pronoun or possessive adjective:

• Define the person, gender, and number of the noun that the pronoun represents
• Establish the base possessive pronoun
• Determine the case you need to use and add a respective ending

As whiny as Alex usually is, he’s already mastered German possessive pronouns and possessive adjectives. Have you? Do so and follow Birgit and Alex with their upcoming fun dialogues and humorous exchanges.