Remember that famous phrase mi casa es su casa? It means “my house is your house”, and is a sentence that many people have learned when visiting Spanish speakers in their homes, especially in Latin America, a clear sign of how open and welcome Latins are, often even to strangers. But did you know that su casa could also be tu casa?
Possessive adjectives in Spanish aren’t that hard, but it is necessary to do a bit of practice to make sure they roll off the tongue flawlessly.
Entonces, ¡a practicar, mis amigos!
Possessive Adjectives Spanish Chart
Before we jump to the exercises on the worksheet, here’s a quick list of Spanish possessive adjectives. We’ll list the subject pronoun and possessive adjectives in Spanish first, with the English translation in parentheses behind it.
Singular subject pronouns:
- yo: mi / mis (I: my)
- tú: tu / tus (you: your)
- él, ella, usted: su / sus (he: his, she / her, formal you / your)
Plural subject pronouns:
- nosotros: nuestro / nuestros (we: our)
o nosotras: nuestra / nuestras (we: our)
- ellos, ellas, ustedes: su / sus (they: their, formal plural you: your)
As you have probably noticed, the biggest difference between English and Spanish possessive adjectives is the fact that there are a singular and plural version in Spanish which has to agree with the object.
Here are a few examples:
My car – mi libro
My cars – mis libros
Our dog – nuestra casa
Our dogs – nuestras casas
That’s right, we have omitted vosotros and its respective possessive adjectives because vosotros is really not regularly used anywhere in Latin America. What about vos, though? Vos is a colloquial pronoun equivalent to tu, and is used a very widely in Argentina, Uruguay and Chile, and also in some countries in Central America. Vos does not have a separate possessive adjective, and just use what is used for tú: tu and tus.
Now it’s time to put the above theory to the test!
Possessive Adjectives Worksheet
The best way to learn how to use possessive adjectives in Spanish is by actually using them, and the three exercises we’ve made for you were designed to test you in different ways. Just follow the instructions and when you’ve finished, compare with the answers at the end of the article!
Exercise 1:
Choose the correct possessive adjective from the 2 options given. The first one has been done for you.
- Maya, estos son tu/tus cuadernos? (correct answer: tus)
- El turista lleva su/nuestros pasaporte.
- Sabes si Antonio aprobó su/mi exámen?
- No hay que olvidarnos de llevar nuestras/nuestro botellas de agua.
- Yo no tengo idea donde dejé mi/su bolso.
- ¿Usted tiene tu/su tarjeta de vacunación?
- Papá, ¿este es tu/su laptop o es de mi mamá?
- ¡Señores! ¡Se están olvidando de su/sus maletas!
Exercise 2:
Complete the conversation between Natalia and Alberto with the correct possessive adjective. The first one has been done for you.
Esperanza: ¡Hola Alberto! ¿Cómo estás? ¿Cómo pasaste 1) ____ vacaciones? (Answer: tus)
Alberto: ¡Esperanza! ¿Qué tal? Oye, la pasé muy bien. Me fui a la casa de 2) ____ padres, la casa de mi infancia en el norte. –
Esperanza: ¡Guaw! ¿Y 3) ____ padres también estaban allí contigo?
Alberto: Solo por un fin de semana, luego tuvieron que volver a la ciudad, por 4) ____ trabajo. ¿Y tú, que hiciste estas vacaciones?
Esperanza: No mucho. Mi novio tenía que con 5) ____ tesis y no teníamos tiempo para viajar.
Alberto: ¡Oh, qué pena!
Esperanza: Mira, llegó el profesor de Historia. Entremos, 6) ____ clase ya va a empezar.
Alberto: Uy, si, ¡vamos!
Exercise 3:
Rewrite the sentence, changing the underlined subject for the new subject, which means you also have to change the verb conjugation and the possessive adjective. The first one has been done for you.
- Yo no tengo mi llave. (nosotros)
Answer: Nosotros no tenemos nuestra llave.
- Lila se va a su casa. (Lila y yo)
- Mario le escribe una carta a su amiga. (tú)
- Nosotros jugamos con nuestros gatos. (ellos)
- Los estudiantes limpian su salón. (yo)
- ¿Tú ya lavaste tu taza?. (usted)
Mission accomplished!
¡Muy bien hecho, amigos!Apart from looking at the grammar and examples of possessive adjectives in Spanish, you’ve also practiced them! Don’t hesitate to check out our other articles to continue improving your Latin American Spanish. ¡Nos vemos pronto!
Exercise 1:
- su / 3. su / 4. nuestras / 5. mi / 6. su / 7. tu / 8. sus
Exercise 2:
- mis / 3. tus / 4. su / 5. su / 6. nuestra
Exercise 3:
- Lila y yo nos vamos a nuestra casa.
- Tú le escribes una carta a tu amiga.
- Ellos juegan con sus gatos.
- Yo limpio mi salón.
- ¿Usted ya lavó su taza?
