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German Possessive Articles: Mein, Dein, Sein and Ihr

Possessive articles say whose something is: my, your, his, her. In German they take the same endings as ein, so if you already know those, the hard part is not the endings — it is picking the right word in the first place.

The full set

mein (my), dein (your, informal singular), sein (his or its), ihr (her), unser (our), euer (your, informal plural), ihr (their) and Ihr (your, formal — always capitalised).

Two of these look identical and are not: ihr means both her and their, and capitalised Ihr means the formal your. In writing the capital letter does the distinguishing; in speech, context does.

The endings, and why the owner does not control them

The ending depends on the noun being owned, not on the owner. Mein Bruder, meine Schwester, mein Kind — the ending follows the gender and case of the possessed noun exactly as ein would.

So sein stays sein in front of a masculine noun even when the owner is a woman's brother, and becomes seine in front of a feminine noun even when the owner is a man. English speakers routinely get this backwards, because in English his and her are chosen by the owner.

Where German uses the article instead

German often avoids the possessive where English insists on it, particularly with parts of the body. Instead it uses the definite article and puts the owner in the dative.

Ich wasche mir die Hände — I wash my hands. Mir tut der Kopf weh — my head hurts. Saying ich wasche meine Hände is understood but sounds foreign, because the ownership is already obvious and German does not restate it.

This is a good example of a place where translating word by word from English produces grammatically correct German that no native speaker would say.

Examples

• Das ist mein Bruder und das ist meine Schwester.That is my brother and that is my sister.
• Hast du deinen Schlüssel?Do you have your key?

Mistakes to avoid

The two errors that dominate are choosing sein or ihr by the gender of the owner instead of the meaning, and forgetting the accusative -en on a masculine noun.

• ✗ Ich sehe mein Bruder.✓ Ich sehe meinen Bruder.
• ✗ euers Auto / eueres Auto✓ euer Auto / eure Tasche / euren Sohn
• ✗ sein Mutter (gemeint: seine Mutter)✓ seine Mutter

How this is tested in the exam

At A1 you are asked to talk about your family, your home and your work in nearly every part of the exam. That makes possessive articles one of the highest-frequency structures on the paper: they appear repeatedly in Schreiben, and the self-introduction in Sprechen Teil 1 is built almost entirely out of them.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between sein and ihr in German?

Sein means his or its; ihr means her or their. Which one you use is decided by who the owner is, but the ending on the word is decided by the noun that follows it.

Why is Ihr sometimes capitalised?

Capitalised Ihr is the formal your, matching the polite pronoun Sie. Lower-case ihr means her or their. The capital letter is the only thing separating them in writing.

Do possessive articles change with the case?

Yes, using the same endings as ein. The one to watch is the masculine accusative, which adds -en: Ich sehe meinen Bruder.

Is euer irregular?

It loses the second e when an ending is added: euer Vater, but eure Mutter and euren Bruder. That dropped vowel is a common written mistake.