Possessives are mainly used to indicate that something belongs to or is part of someone. We also use them to express relationships (people or animals) and to talk about parts of the body. They go according to the possessor, not to the possession.

Possessive pronoun

I have a pet, so this pet is mine.

Possessive adjective

This is your problem, not my problem.

2. Possessive adjectives and possessive pronouns

Personal pronoun	Possessive adjective	Possessive pronoun
I	My	Mine
You	Your	Yours
He	His	His
She	Her	Hers
It	Its	Its¹
We	Our	Ours
You	Your	Yours
They	Their	Theirs

¹The possessive pronoun its is very rarely used.

3. How are possessive adjectives and possessive pronouns used?

Possessive adjectives accompany a noun.

This is my collection.

Is she your daughter?
Possessive pronouns replace a noun. They act as a subject when they replace the possessor and the possession. They act as an object when they only replace the possessor.

Mary has a hat. That hat is hers.

In this example hers replaces Mary, so it acts as an object.

That is my cushion. Yours is there.

In this example, yours replaces both you and the cushion, so it acts as a subject.

4. Aspects to be taken into account

Possessive adjectives precede a noun while possessive pronouns don't.

Possessive adjective

This is my car.

In this example we will use the possessive adjective my because it precedes a noun (car).

Possessive pronoun

This car is mine.

In this example we will use the possessive pronoun mine because it doesn't precede a noun.

Remember that we can use the structure: subject + of + possessive pronoun when we want to refer to one or several people from a group.

That boy over there is a cousin of mine.

He is a friend of mine.

Remember!

Personal pronoun	Possessive adjective	Possessive pronoun
I	My	Mine
You	Your	Yours
He	His	His
She	Her	Hers
It	Its	Its
We	Our	Ours
You	Your	Yours
They	Their	Theirs