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Possessive Pronouns in English: Mine, Yours, His, Hers, Ours, Theirs
The 6 possessive pronouns in English, with examples and the rule almost everyone breaks: no apostrophe, ever.
Written by Bryan López, Profesor de inglés · Updated
Possessive pronouns in English are mine, yours, his, hers, ours, and theirs: they replace an entire noun phrase to show ownership and stand alone, with no noun after them. "This book is mine" doesn't need to say "my book," "mine" already replaces it completely.
Possessive pronouns in English
No apostrophe, ever
The most common mistake with possessive pronouns is adding an apostrophe, treating them like the possessive 's. "Her's," "your's," and "their's" are always wrong, the correct forms are hers, yours, and theirs, with no apostrophe. None of the 6 possessive pronouns ever take one.
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Practice possessive pronouns with real audio
Interactive exercises, real pronunciation, and the full lesson taught in English.
There's no possessive pronoun for 'it'
"Its" is the possessive adjective for things ("The dog wagged its tail"), but there's no possessive pronoun form for it. You simply don't use one in that case, you rephrase the sentence with the noun or with "its own."
Possessive pronoun vs. possessive adjective
The possessive adjective goes before a noun: "This is my book." The possessive pronoun replaces the noun completely and stands alone: "This book is mine." You can't combine the two: "This is mine book" is wrong, you either say "my book" or "mine," never both forms together.
A common gender mix-up
In many languages, the possessive pronoun changes based on the gender of the object you own. In English there's no such agreement: the possessive pronoun matches who the owner is, not the object. If Ana is the owner, it's always "hers," no matter what gender the object's translation would carry: "This car is hers," "This house is hers."
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Frequently asked questions
What are the possessive pronouns in English?
Mine, yours, his, hers, ours, and theirs. They replace an entire noun phrase to show ownership and stand alone, with no noun after them.
What are possessive pronouns?
They're pronouns that show who something belongs to without repeating the noun: instead of saying "this is my car," you can say "this car is mine."
Do possessive pronouns take an apostrophe?
No, never. "Her's," "your's," and "their's" are incorrect; the correct forms are always hers, yours, and theirs, with no apostrophe.
What's the difference between a possessive pronoun and a possessive adjective?
A possessive adjective goes before a noun (my car), a possessive pronoun replaces the whole noun and stands alone (mine): "This is my car" vs. "This car is mine."
Is there a possessive pronoun for 'it'?
No. "Its" only exists as a possessive adjective ("its tail"), there's no matching possessive pronoun form for things.
How do I know whether to use his, hers, or theirs?
It depends on who the owner is, not the object: his for a male owner, hers for a female owner, theirs for more than one owner.
Practice possessive pronouns with real audio
Interactive exercises, real pronunciation, and the full lesson taught in English.