Possessives - Complete Guide for Spanish Speakers

🎯 Why This Matters

To express ownership clearly.

Learning Outcome

Correct possession expression in all forms.

🇪🇸 The Challenge

'S vs OF and pronouns. Spanish uses 'de' for possession. English has 's (apostrophe), possessive adjectives (my/your), and possessive pronouns (mine/yours).

🇲🇽🇨🇴🇦🇷 DE → 'S for people

Problem: Spanish uses 'de' for all possession

Watch out: Saying 'the car of John' instead of 'John's car'

✅ Fix: For people/animals, use 'S. For things, OF is OK.

🧠 Mental Note: People: 'S (John's). Things: of (the end of the movie).

❌ 'the house of my mother' → ✅ 'my mother's house'

🇪🇸 Same DE preference

Problem: Castilian Spanish uses 'de' for possession too

Watch out: Overusing 'of' where 'S is more natural

✅ Fix: Retrain: NAME'S thing, not 'thing of name'

❌ 'the dog of my friend' → ✅ 'my friend's dog'

🧠 Visual Explanation (The Mental Fix)

The Three Ways to Show Possession

English has THREE ways to show possession: 1. Apostrophe 'S (for people/animals) John's book = el libro de John The dog's tail = la cola del perro 2. OF (for things/concepts) The door of the house (or: the house's door) The end of the movie 3. Possessive adjectives (before nouns) MY book, YOUR car, HIS house, HER bag ITS tail, OUR home, THEIR money 4. Possessive pronouns (alone, no noun after) It's MINE, it's YOURS, it's HIS, it's HERS It's OURS, it's THEIRS Note: IT'S = it is. ITS = possessive (no apostrophe!)

People use 'S (John's). Things use OF. MY/YOUR before nouns. MINE/YOURS alone.

🗣️ Pronunciation Guide

How Spanish speakers should pronounce this structure:

Possessive S sound

Spanish Habit: Pronouncing 's as /es/

English Reality: Possessive 's sounds like /s/, /z/, or /ɪz/

Examples:

Mike's → /maɪks/ (like 's')
John's → /dʒɒnz/ (like 'z')
Rose's → /ˈroʊzɪz/ (adds syllable)

Practice: Same rules as plural -s. After voiced sounds = /z/

📖 How It Works

Apostrophe exercises. Possessive adjective vs pronoun practice.

Learning Strategy

Teacher Recommendation: Self-study friendly

Time Investment: 4 hours

🔑 Signal Words (Memory Anchors)

These words/phrases appear with this structure:

English	Spanish	Example
's	de (para personas)	John's car / el carro de John
of	de (para cosas)	the end of the movie / el fin de la película
my/your/his/her/its/our/their	mi/tu/su/nuestro	my book, your car, their house
mine/yours/his/hers/ours/theirs	mío/tuyo/suyo/nuestro	It's mine, it's yours, it's theirs

💬 Real Examples

Let's see this structure in action with correct vs incorrect usage:

Example 1: Apostrophe S

✅ CORRECT: "This is Maria's car."

🇪🇸 Translation: "Este es el carro de María."

❌ COMMON MISTAKE: "This is the car of Maria."

Why wrong? For people, English prefers 'S: Maria's, not 'of Maria'

🇲🇽 LatAm Trap: Spanish uses 'de'. English uses 'S for people!

'S goes after the owner: John's book, the cat's food

Example 2: Its vs It's

✅ CORRECT: "The dog wagged its tail."

🇪🇸 Translation: "El perro movió su cola."

❌ COMMON MISTAKE: "The dog wagged it's tail."

Why wrong? ITS = possessive (no apostrophe). IT'S = it is.

🇲🇽 LatAm Trap: HUGE English trap! ITS (possessive) vs IT'S (it is) - no apostrophe for possessive 'its'!

Example 3: Possessive adjective vs pronoun

✅ CORRECT: "This is my book. This book is mine."

🇪🇸 Translation: "Este es mi libro. Este libro es mío."

❌ COMMON MISTAKE: "This is mine book."

Why wrong? MY + noun (my book). MINE alone (it's mine).

🇲🇽 LatAm Trap: MY, YOUR, HIS, HER = before noun. MINE, YOURS, HIS, HERS = alone.

Note: HIS is both adjective and pronoun!

✏️ Practice Exercises

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🚀 What to Study Next

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