A1 · GRAMMAR
Possessive determiners: mein, dein, sein, ihr
In English we use words like 'my', 'your', 'his', 'her'. In German, these possessive words come before the noun (e.g., meine Mutter) and take endings just like 'ein'. The trickiest point is 'his' vs 'her': use 'sein' for a male owner and 'ihr' for a female owner.
In this lesson
1. Whose is who's?
mein (my), dein (your), sein (his/its), ihr (her), unser (our), euer (your), ihr (their), Ihr (your, formal).
2. sein or ihr?
Look at the owner: belonging to Ali → sein, belonging to Ayşe → ihr.
Das ist Anna und ihr Mann.
This is Anna and her husband.
3. Endings like 'ein'
der/das → mein, die/plural → meine.
mein Bruder · meine Schwester
my brother · my sister
4. Akkusativ
For masculine objects add -en: meinen.
Ich besuche meinen Vater.
I am visiting my father.
💡 Possessive words replace 'ein' and take the exact same endings. If you know ein/eine/einen, you know mein/meine/meinen.