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Russian Possessive Pronouns

Russian grammar --> Russian Possessive Pronouns

Possessive pronouns are words used in place of a noun or another pronoun which indicate ownership (in English, these are pronouns "my", "your", "his", "her" etc.). In Russian, these pronouns reflect all three persons, i.e. each personal pronoun has a related possessive pronoun:

Personal pronoun Possessive pronoun
я мой
ты твой
он его
она её
оно его
мы наш
вы ваш
они их

Russian possessive pronouns are modifiers, they agree in gender, number, and case with the modified noun, and they are also referred to as possessive pronominal adjectives since their behavior in a phrase or sentence is similar to adjectives.

Это мой паспорт (masc sing). - It is my passport.
Это моя лампа (fem sing). - It is my lamp.
Это мои билеты (masc pl). - These are my tickets

Unlike the English pronoun "my", the Russian pronoun мой changes its form depending on gender or number of the modified noun.

There is also a particular pronoun свой in Russian, called reflexive possessive pronoun, that means one's own and reflects ownership to subject of the verb in a phrase. This pronoun can be used only if the possessor and the subject are in the same phrase. Generally, the reflexive possessive pronoun can replace any possessive pronoun, but it is specially required if the subject of the verb is one of the third person personal pronouns он, она, они.

I love my dog.: Я люблю мою собаку. = Я люблю свою собаку.

Do you love your dog?: Ты любишь твою собаку? = Ты любишь свою собаку?

We love our dog.: Мы любим нашу собаку. = Мы любим свою собаку.

But:

He loves his dog.: Он любит свою собаку. (not always equal to: Он любит его собаку.)

In this case, it is preferably to use the pronoun свой, since in Russian the pronoun его could be interpreted in some situations not only as his own dog, but also as someone else's dog.

The reflexive possessive pronoun rarely modifies nouns in the nominative form. It may be used with nouns in nominative in the construction with Russian preposition у meaning to have, such as У меня есть I have, where it stands for "one's own and not somebody else's", and also in several Russian proverbs and idiomatic expressions.

У меня есть своя машина. - I have my own car.

Своя рубашка ближе к телу. (proverb) - One's own shirt is closer to the body. (Charity begins at home.)

Он свой человек. - He is our kind of guy.

As mentioned above, Russian possessive pronouns agree in case with nouns, i.e. they also decline. However, the third person possessives are formally invariable and identical to the genitive form of the third person personal pronouns. Other possessive pronouns change according to gender, case and number of the noun. Notice that they reflect the animacy of the modified nouns and obey the declension rule of animate/inanimate referents in the accusative forms.

The tables below present the complete declensions of Russian possessive pronouns.

My

Case Singular Plural
masculine  neuter  feminine
Nom мой моё моя мои
Gen моего моей моих
Dat моему моей моим
Acc Nom/Gen моё мою Nom/Gen
Ins моим моей моими
Prep моём моей моих

Your (singular)

Case Singular Plural
masculine  neuter  feminine
Nom твой твоё твоя твои
Gen твоего твоей твоих
Dat твоему твоей твоим
Acc Nom/Gen твоё твою Nom/Gen
Ins твоим твоей твоими
Prep твоём твоей твоих

Our

Case Singular Plural
masculine  neuter  feminine
Nom наш наше наша наши
Gen нашего нашей наших
Dat нашему нашей нашим
Acc Nom/Gen наше нашу Nom/Gen
Ins нашим нашей нашими
Prep нашем нашей наших

Your (plural)

Case Singular Plural
masculine  neuter  feminine
Nom ваш ваше ваша ваши
Gen вашего вашей ваших
Dat вашему вашей вашим
Acc Nom/Gen ваше вашу Nom/Gen
Ins вашим вашей вашими
Prep вашем вашей ваших

One's own

Case Singular Plural
masculine  neuter  feminine
Nom свой своё своя свои
Gen своего своей своих
Dat своему своей своим
Acc Nom/Gen своё свою Nom/Gen
Ins своим своей своими
Prep своём своей своих

His, Its, Her, Their

Case his/its her/its their
Nom его её их
Gen его её их
Dat его её их
Acc его её их
Ins его её их
Prep его её их






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