eng5-1.3· Unit 1: Be & Identity· ~13 min

Possessive 's & possessive adjectives

Ali's book; my/your/his/her.

In English we show that something belongs to a person by adding apostrophe-s ('s) after their name or noun: Ali's bag, the boy's dog, my sister's cat. Notice that the apostrophe always comes before the s when we talk about one owner. Possessive adjectives — my, your, his, her, its, our, their — work differently: they go directly before a noun and do not need an apostrophe. The choice of adjective depends on the owner, not the object. If the owner is male, use his (Tom has a bike → his bike). If the owner is female, use her (Sara has a pencil → her pencil). If the owner is a thing or animal, use its (The cat has a tail → its tail). For more than one owner, use our (two friends → our classroom) or their (the children → their bags). A very common beginner mistake is to mix up the subject pronoun and the possessive adjective: we say My book is here, never Me book is here. For example: 'That is Ali's pencil case — his pencil case is red and white.'

Key terms

possessive 's — Apostrophe + s added to a name or noun to show ownership: Ali's bag, the teacher's desk.
possessive adjective — A word (my, your, his, her, its, our, their) that goes before a noun to show who owns it.
subject pronoun — A pronoun used as the subject of a sentence: I, you, he, she, it, we, they.
object pronoun — A pronoun used as the object of a verb or preposition: me, you, him, her, it, us, them.
apostrophe — The punctuation mark (') used before the s in possessive 's: Ali's, the cat's.
possessive pronoun — A word (mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs) that stands alone and replaces a noun: That bag is mine. It cannot go directly before a noun.
Possessive Adjectives — Full Paradigm
OwnerPossessive adjectiveExample
I (the speaker)mymy book
you (the listener)youryour pen
he (one male)hishis bag
she (one female)herher bag
it (one thing / animal)itsits tail
we (speaker + others)ourour classroom
they (more than one)theirtheir books

Choose the possessive adjective based on the OWNER, not the thing owned.

How to Form Possessive 's
Owner typeRuleExample
singular namename + 'sAli's bag, Sara's pen
singular common nounnoun + 'sthe teacher's desk, the boy's dog
irregular plural (not ending in s)plural + 'sthe children's books
regular plural (ending in s)plural + ' (apostrophe only)the boys' room (NOT on exam at A1)

At A1 level, focus on singular possessive: one owner → name/noun + 's.

Whose vs Who — Question Words for Possession
Question wordAsks aboutExample questionExample answer
Whosethe owner of somethingWhose bag is this?It is Nigar's bag.
Whoa person's identityWho is Kamran's sister?That girl over there.

Use 'Whose' to ask about ownership; use 'Who' to ask about a person.

✎Building a Possessive 's Sentence Step by Step
  1. 1Step 1: Identify the owner: The owner is Amir.
  2. 2Step 2: Add apostrophe + s to the owner: Amir → Amir's
  3. 3Step 3: Write the thing owned after the possessive: Amir's bike
  4. 4Step 4: Write the full sentence: This is Amir's bike. (NOT: Amirs bike / Amir bike's)
✎Choosing the Right Possessive Adjective
  1. 1Step 1: Find the owner in the sentence: The sentence says 'Sara has a pencil.' → The owner is Sara.
  2. 2Step 2: Decide: male, female, thing, or group?: Sara is female → use 'her'.
  3. 3Step 3: Place the adjective before the noun: Her pencil is yellow. (NOT: His / Our / Their pencil)
🚫Common mistake

Do NOT use a subject pronoun (I, he, she) or object pronoun (me, her) before a noun. Say 'my bag' — NOT 'I bag' or 'me bag'. Say 'his bike' — NOT 'he bike'. Say 'her pencil' — NOT 'she pencil'.

⚠️Caution

'It's' (with apostrophe) is short for 'it is'. The possessive adjective for a thing or animal is 'its' (NO apostrophe): The dog has a collar. Its collar is red. NOT: It's collar is red.

🚫Common mistake

'Mine', 'yours', 'hers', 'his', 'theirs' are possessive PRONOUNS — they stand alone and CANNOT come before a noun. Say 'my book' before a noun, NOT 'mine book'. Say 'That book is mine.' when there is no noun after it.

💡Note

The apostrophe always goes on the OWNER, not the thing owned. Write 'Ali's book' (apostrophe on Ali), NOT 'Ali book's' (apostrophe on book). Also, never double up: write either 'Ali's bag' OR 'his bag', never 'Ali's his bag'.

Rules

  1. 1Add 's after a person's name or noun to show ownership: Ali's bag, the teacher's desk.
  2. 2Possessive adjectives (my, your, his, her, its, our, their) go before a noun; they never take an apostrophe.
  3. 3Choose the adjective based on the owner: male → his; female → her; thing/animal → its; speaker → my; listener → your; two or more → our / their.
  4. 4Never confuse subject pronouns with possessive adjectives: say 'my book', not 'I book'; say 'her pen', not 'she pen'.
  5. 5Possessive 's and possessive adjectives cannot be used together for the same noun — use one or the other (Ali's bag OR his bag, not Ali's his bag).

Practice

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