The Not Too Overly Possessive Pronouns |
The possessive pronouns are, as their name implies, selfish, because they insist on doing the work of the genitive form of the personal pronouns. These pronouns are adjectival since they occur in attributive position before the noun they modify and agree in case, number, and gender with the noun. There is one corresponding to each of the 'persons' of personal pronouns. Here is a list of their citation (nominative singular masculine) forms.
The Possessive Pronouns | ||
Person | Singular | Plural |
1st | мой my | наш our |
2nd | твой your | ваш yalls |
3rd | её her, its его his, its |
их their |
The good news is this: the first- and second-person possessive pronouns follow the general rule of pronouns stated at the top of the page. That is, these possessive pronouns have noun endings in the nominative and accusative and adjective endings everywhere else, so you already know their endings. The even better news is that the 3rd person possessive pronouns, её, его and их are indeclinable—their form never changes! (Russians will do anything to keep their language simple.)
её стол her table | её книга her book | её письмо her letter |
его стол his table | его книга his book | его письмо his letter |
их стол their table | их книга their book | их письмо their letter |
So, you have no further memorization if you just keep in mind two spelling rules: [1] the й + vowel spelling rule for forms like "my (neuter)" and "your (feminine)", the 7-consonant rule for forms like "our (plural)" and the 5-consonant rule for those like "your (plural)". In the table below, the 1st person pronouns are given in the Masculine - Neuter, while the 2nd person pronouns are in the Feminine.
Possessive Pronoun Declensions: 1st & 2nd Persons |
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Singular | ||||
Case | 1stSg | 2ndSg | 1stPl | 2ndPl |
Nominative | мой, мое | твоя | наш, наше | ваша |
Accusative | мой, мое | твою | Nom/Gen | вашу |
Genitive | моего | твоей | нашего | вашей |
Dative | моему | твоей | нашему | вашей |
Prepositional | моём | твоей | нашем | вашей |
Instrumental | моим | твоей | нашим | вашей |
Plural | ||||
Nominative | мои | твои | наши | ваши |
Accusative | Nom/Gen | Nom/Gen | Nom/Gen | Nom/Gen |
Genitive | моих | твоих | наших | ваших |
Dative | моим | твоим | нашим | вашим |
Prepositional | моих | твоих | наших | ваших |
Instrumental | моими | твоими | нашими | вашими |
Don't be intimidated by the size of the possessive pronoun declension table. Take a close look and you will see that in the nominative and accusative of both declensions (which I've darkened to help you spot them), the ending is the same as the nouns of the corresponding gender and that all other endings are the same as the corresponding adjective endings. You already know them! Congratulations on a job well done!
The only catch to the possessive pronouns is found in the interrogative possessive pronoun, the one that means "whose" чей, чья, чьё, чьи. You have to remember that, except in the masculine singular, чей, there is a soft sign before the endings. Otherwise, this possessive pronoun declines like all others.
Чей стол? Whose table? |
Чья книга? Whose book? |
Чьё письмо? Whose letter? |
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Чьего стола? Of whose table? |
Чью книгу? Whose book? |
На чьём письме? On whose letter? |
Oh, by the way. . .the possessive reflexive pronoun свой, своё, своя; свои is declined the same as мой and твой It is used when the referent of the possessive is identical with that of the subject, e.g. Я взял свою книгу "I took my (own) book".
Test Your Knowledge of Possessional Pronouns |
Here are a few exercises to test your grasp of possessiveness in Russian. Choose the correct case form of the pronoun listed to the right of the sentence and type it into the appropriate space. (Be sure to distinguish e and ё).
Aren't pronouns fun? Want to do some more? The next set of pronouns are the most demonstrative of all the Russian pronouns.