Using Possessive Determiners (Possessive Adjectives)
Possessive determiners, or possessive adjectives, tell us who owns something.
We use a possessive determiner before a noun to show who owns the noun we are talking about.
Kate gave me your book.
‘Your’ is a possessive determiner. It tells us that you own the book.Types of Possessive Determiners
We use different possessive determiners depending on who owns the thing we are talking about.
| Subject | Possessive Determiner |
|---|---|
| I | my |
| we | our |
| you | your |
| they | their |
| he | his |
| she | her |
| it | its |
Possessive Determiners
That is my pen.
I am talking about a pen. I own the pen.Their house is on Spring Street.
I am talking about a house. They own the house.Kate gave me your book.
I am talking about a book. You own the book.Possessive pronouns also tell us who owns something. We use possessive pronouns instead of a noun.
You can also make a noun possessive by using possessive ’s.
Using Possessive Determiners
We use a possessive determiner before a noun.
possessive determiner + noun
We use a possessive determiner instead of other determiners.
Kate gave me your book.
Kate gave me a book.
Kate gave me this book.
‘Your’, ‘a’, and ’this’ are different types of determiners. They tell us different things about the noun, ‘book’.