It would seem that there is nothing simpler than pronouns: "I, you, he, she - together the whole country", "To you - yours, and to me - mine." But how do you say it in English? In today's article, we will look at the basic rules for using personal and possessive pronouns in English language.

Personal pronouns in English

In English, the personal pronoun is used instead of a noun that we already know or have already mentioned. This avoids repetition in speech.

This is Jim. Jim is a policeman. Jim lives in New York. - It Jim. Jim police officer. Jim lives in New York.

Agree, too much Jim for three sentences. This is easy to fix if we combine the two sentences into one and replace the name Jim with the pronoun he (he).

This is Jim. He is a policeman and lives in New York. - It Jim. He police officer and lives in New York.

A personal pronoun can be:

1. Subjective (subject pronoun)

   This pronoun is used in a sentence instead of the subject and denotes the one who performs the action. Subject pronouns come before the verb and answer the questions “who?” and what?".

2. Objective (object pronoun)

   The pronoun is used in the sentence instead of the object, that is, the action is directed to it. Object pronouns come after the verb and answer the questions “who? / what?”, “to whom? / what?”, “who? / what?”, “by whom? / what?”, “about whom? / about what?".

Personal pronouns instead of subject

The table below shows personal pronouns that are used in English instead of the subject.

Now let's look at some of the features of these pronouns:

• Pronoun I

  I is always capitalized.

  I am a dreamer. - I dreamer.
  Mom says I can do it. - Mom says that I I can do it.

  If I in a sentence is next to another personal pronoun, then I is put in second place.

  She and I are best friends. - We With her best friends.
  He and I played tennis together. - We With him played tennis.

• Pronouns he, she and it

  The pronouns he and she are used for people. And to refer to inanimate objects, phenomena and animals, the pronoun it is used.

  You know Jane. She is kind and modest. - You know Jane. She is kind and humble.
  Did you see the new building yesterday? It is big. - Did you see the new building yesterday? It big.

  And if you treat your pet like a family member, you can use he or she instead of it.

  Your dog doesn't like me. It barks at me.
  - My dog ​​never barks at people. He's a good boy.
  Your dog doesn't love me. He barks at me.
  My dog ​​never barks at people. He good boy.

  The pronoun it is also used in impersonal sentences(in which there is no character) to describe the weather, time, distance, etc.

  It's a quarter to nine. - It's fifteen minutes to nine.
  It's foggy outside. - It's foggy outside.
  It's three kilometers between the villages. - The distance between the villages is three kilometers.

• Pronoun you

  You translates as "you", "you" or "you" depending on the context, but agrees with the verb in plural.

  You look good in this dress. - You you look good in this dress.
  You all are beautiful. - You all are beautiful.
  Mrs. Walmer, I think you will be a good nurse. - Mrs. Walmer, I think You be a good nurse.

Personal pronouns instead of object

In the table we give personal pronouns that are used instead of the object and are in the sentence after the verb.

Let's look at examples:

He will help me tomorrow. - He will help to me tomorrow.
He told us the story. - He told us this story.

We also use these pronouns after the prepositions about (about), on (on), in (in), with (from), for (for) and others.

stay with us. - stay with us.
I am doing this for her. - I'm doing it for her.

You can fix the topic and take the tests in our articles “Personal pronouns of the English language" and "".

Possessive adjectives and pronouns in English

There are two possessive forms in English:

1. Possessive adjectives
2. Possessive pronouns

Both forms denote the belonging of something to someone and answer the question “whose? / Whose? / Whose? / Whose?”

Although this article focuses on pronouns, we will also look at adjectives so that you do not confuse them.

So what is the difference between a possessive adjective and a pronoun? A possessive adjective in English always comes before a noun and characterizes it.

This is my cup. - It my cup.
His phone is on the table. - His phone lies on the table.
your music is annoying. - Your music annoys.

The possessive pronoun does not characterize the noun, but replaces the construction "possessive adjective + noun". Most often, such pronouns are at the end of a sentence.

Are those shoes mine? - those shoes my?
It's their dog, and that is ours. - This is their dog, and this is - our.
My dress is prettier than yours. - My dress is prettier your.
Her cake was better than theirs. - Her cake was tastier than them.

We can also use a possessive pronoun after a noun with the preposition of.

This is Ross. He is a friend of me my mine. - This is Ross. He my friend.

Also, possessive adjectives and pronouns have other features that should be remembered:

• In English, there is no pronoun corresponding to the Russian "own". Therefore, we translate it according to the context using possessive adjectives or pronouns.

  I'll take my(possessive adjective) bag and you take yours(possessive pronoun). - I'll take my (mine) bag, and you take my (yours).

• The possessive adjective and possessive pronoun its are written without an apostrophe. If you meet it "s, then this is an abbreviated grammatical form: it's \u003d it + is.

  The cat played with its(possessive adjective) toy. - The cat played with his toy.

• Formally, its exists as a possessive pronoun, but its use is avoided. It is used only with the pronoun own - its own (own, own).

  Each district of the city has the charm of its own(possessive pronoun). - Each district of the city has your own the charm.

We have also collected for you personal and possessive pronouns English into one diagram for clarity. You can use it as a cheat sheet.

We invite you to watch a funny video from the animated series Looney Tunes. In this episode, you will see how desperately the drake Daffy Duck tries to get the hunter Elmer Fudd to shoot Bugs Bunny the rabbit. But Duffy has one problem - he gets confused in pronouns.

Try to take a short test on the use of personal and possessive pronouns in English.

Test on the topic "Personal and possessive pronouns in English"

We hope that our article helped you understand the features correct use personal and possessive pronouns in English. If you want to work out the rules you have learned using examples that you understand, go to one of the.

Natalya Glukhova

Possessive case of adjectives in English

29/04 2018

Good afternoon dear friends!
We have already found out that there are much fewer cases in English than in Russian, which is why it is easy to learn (read in the article “Noun Cases in English”). But did you know that not everything that is a pronoun in Russian is such in a foreign one. Therefore, in the article “The Possessive Case of Adjectives in English”, we will, in fact, talk about pronouns.

From this article you will learn:

How do they look

Let's first remember what it is. It is used to indicate the ownership of something. For example, My cat is 7 years old (My cat is seven years old). The fact is that pronouns in this case are considered adjectives. I will present you a table, in the first column of which they are in their initial form, and in the second they are already possessive:

As you remember, it refers to inanimate nouns, but it can also express possession, since, in addition, it also replaces animals. The cat was eating its food.

Like all adjectives, possessives are placed directly before the subject they refer to: Their house is very big (Their house is very big). Their refers to house, so it comes before it.

Possessive adjectives

What to look for:
It should be remembered that if the word is in the plural, the -s is not added to the adjective. Her gardens are really beautiful (Her gardens are very beautiful). Hers gardens are really beautiful.

However, the verb must necessarily agree with the noun, that is, if the noun is in the singular, then the verb must also be in the singular. If the noun is plural, then so is the verb.

Examples:
Our car is expensive (Our car is expensive) - singular.
Our cars are expensive (Our cars are expensive) - plural.
His child is smart (His child is smart).
His children are smart (His children are smart).
Be careful with its and it's. Just one apostrophe, but so many differences! Indeed, in the second case, this is an abbreviated form of the verb to be - it is or from it has. Accordingly, the construction of proposals will be completely different:
The dog is playing with its toy (The dog is playing with his toy).
It's (It is) a dog's toy (This is a dog's toy).
It's (It has) been nice to see you (It was nice to see you).

False doubles

Pronouns have a possessive case (possessive pronoun). It looks very similar to the possessive adjective, but at the end we add -s to almost everything. Take a look at the table and compare them:

Possessive pronouns

Why are they so similar? Possessive pronoun (second column) is used to avoid repeating information that is already obvious. Compare:
This phone is my phone, not your phone (This is my phone, not yours).
This phone is mine not yours.
Agree, the second sentence is much more compact than the first? Mine here replaces two words at once: my phone. Yours replaces your phone.

As you have already figured out, a noun will never be placed after the words of the second column. Some of them have exactly the same form as adjectives. For example, its, and some are different: your - yours.

Subscribe to my blog. Find even more useful articles and rules, and you will also receive as a gift - a basic phrasebook in three languages, English, German and French. Its main advantage is that there is a Russian transcription, therefore, even without knowing the language, you can easily master colloquial phrases.

In addition, you need to remember that they do not use an apostrophe.

Possessive adjectives and pronouns

They are also often used in the construction a friend + of + possessive pronouns.
For example, I'm going to see a friend of mine tonight (I'm going to see my friend today).

I want to advise you to take a couple of lessons at the marinarusakova school. I tried this service myself - I really liked it! Everything is simple, interesting and useful tasks! Learning English can be fun, and the teacher knows how to work with all levels and will quickly find a common language with you.

They can also be found in a set expression used in a business letter when we finish it:
Yours faithfully (when we do not know the name of the person with whom we correspond).
Yours sincerely (when we know the name).

Let's work out the material

In order for everything that I have just told you to fit well in your head, you must definitely do the exercises.
In the missing places, insert the possessive adjective, suitable in meaning:

1. She walks dog every day.
   Example: She walks ____ her dog every day.
2. We are checking ____ luggage in, we will call you back later.
3. The cat was feeding ____ kittens when I came home.
4. He never leaves ____ car open.
5. Ellen's parents have sold ____ yacht.
6. Have you found ____ keys?
7. I'm going to drink ____ coffee and then I'll go to work.
8. Anna is going to Ireland with ____ sister.
9. Daniel likes playing tennis, it's ____ favorite hobby.
10. Steve met ____ wife a year ago.
11. Paul and Lilly are going to see ____ parents tonight.

Fill in the gaps with an appropriate adjective or pronoun. More than one option is possible.

1. He is not James's friend, he is.
   He is not James's friend. He is mine.
2. – Where is my coffee?
3. – Fred has dank ____ coffee.
4. Jenny was a friend of ____.
5. My city is big while ____ isn't.
6. Has ____ father called?
7. Lucy talked to ____ grandmother yesterday.
8. It isn't my pencil. It is ____ .
9. Mary has got two brothers. ____ names are Rick and John.
10. Our car is white and ____ is black.
11. Is it your tea? No it's not ____.
12. Don't touch this toy. It is not ____.
13. Janet can't find ____ bag.
14. Max is going on holidays with a friend of ____.
15. Mr. and Mrs. stone love gardening. ____ garden is really lovely.
16. Look at this beautiful dog. ____ fur is so fluffy.

By the way, did you really know?

And finally, I offer an exercise for the youngest polyglots. If you are a family, show this picture to your children and ask them to insert the correct word.

They are qualitative, relative and possessive. The former express the qualities of the object: tall, thin, wide, large, slow, red, etc. The category of quality includes those denoting color, shape, character traits, physical and spatio-temporal features of the word being defined. As a rule, quality adjectives have several due to which they can be distinguished from adjectives of other categories.

In Russian English textbooks there is also some confusion about what is considered possessive adjectives (possive adjectives), since they are traditionally studied in the topic of possessive pronouns, thus distinguishing between the relative and absolute forms of pronouns. However, in British English there is no such classification, there are only possessive pronouns and possessive adjectives, as shown in the table below.

Possessive adjectives in English are thus often referred to as a relative form, however, in fact, such a category does not exist. This was done for the convenience of studying English grammar, since in Russian these words are really pronouns.

adjectives in this case it is easy to distinguish, since they always require a noun after them (i.e. my pen, his coat), while pronouns are used in such grammatical constructions as this pencil is mine, that coat is his (i.e. they are not followed by a noun) . Possessive adjectives in both languages ​​are a topic that has a lot of nuances to consider, so it's best to study it thoroughly.

Any student who starts learning English from scratch on his own or with a teacher will learn how to answer the question “ What's your name?”(Russian. What is your name?).

Answering " My name is…“(Rus. My name is ...), he doesn’t even think that he already knows two possessive pronouns: my(mine, mine, mine. mine) and your(Russian yours, yours, yours, yours), without which it is impossible to build communication in English.

We use the same possessive pronouns for everything, but do we own our lives or sisters or husbands in the same way we own our shoes? Do we own any of them at all?

We use possessive pronouns for everything, but do we really own our lives, sisters or husbands as much as we own our shoes? Do we own all this?

~ Samantha Harvey

They can cause some misunderstanding on the part of those who are just starting to learn English and have encountered Possessive pronouns for the first time.

In English grammar, two varieties of possessive pronouns peacefully coexist: Possessive Adjectives(possessive adjectives) and Possessive Pronouns(possessive pronouns). Today we will talk about them in this article.

Possessive pronouns in English

Possessive pronouns help us understand that someone or something owns something. Signature on key chains: I am yours (Russian I am yours), And you are mine (Russian And you are mine)

Let's first remember what a possessive pronoun is.

Possessive pronouns(mine, yours, ours, and others) indicate the sign of belonging to a certain person and answer the question whose? In Russian, they agree with the noun in number, gender, and case.

What about English possessive pronouns? There are two forms of possessive pronouns in English ( Possessive adjectives and Possessive pronouns), which differ in spelling and how they are used in a sentence.

Let us consider in more detail both forms of possessive pronouns in English.

Possessive Adjectives

Possessive pronouns in English, resembling an adjective in their role in a sentence, and which are always used with a noun, are called Possessive Adjectives(Russian possessive adjective).

Below is a table of the formation of possessive pronouns in English and their comparison with personal pronouns.

Possessive pronouns dependent form (Table 1)

Possessive pronouns dependent form (Table 2)

When we want to indicate ownership, we cannot use !

Sentence He name was Carl(Russian. His name was Karl) sounds strange and wrong in both English and Russian. He is a personal pronoun. Replace it with a suitable possessive adjective his and get a grammatically and logically correct sentence: His name was Car l (Russian. His name was Karl)

Sometimes this form of possessive pronouns or Possessive Adjectives called dependent, since it cannot be used on its own, without a noun.

Remember!

Possessive pronouns-adjectives (Possessive Adjectives) in English they are used only in conjunction with a noun and always come before it.

Since dependent possessive pronouns resemble adjectives in their functionality, they also play the role of a definition in a sentence.

Examples of sentences with possessive adjectives in English

English beginners often confuse possessive adjectives with contracted forms of the verb. to be:

your and you're (= you are)

its and it's (= it is)

Compare the use of possessive pronouns and the contracted form of the verb:

Possessive Pronouns

Possessive pronouns in English that can be used in a sentence without a noun are called Possessive Pronouns(Russian possessive pronoun).

Possessive Pronouns also called absolute or independent form of possessive pronouns. In this form, nouns are never placed after possessive pronouns, since these pronouns are used instead of nouns.

Remember!

Absolute possessive pronouns ( Possessive Pronounss) in English are used without a noun and perform the function of the subject, object or nominal part of the predicate in the sentence.

Below is a table of the formation of absolute possessive pronouns in English and their comparison with personal pronouns.

Possessive pronouns in English absolute form (Table 1)

Possessive pronouns in English absolute form (Table 2)

English possessive pronouns in absolute form replace the possessive adjective ( Possessive Adjective) with a noun to avoid repetition of information, since everything is clear without it. For example:

This book is my book, not your book(Russian This book is my book, not your book)

This book is mine, not yours(Russian This book is mine, not yours)

As you noticed in both Russian and English, the second sentence sounds more natural. Let's take a look at how possessive pronouns are used in a sentence.

Examples of sentences with possessive pronouns in English

Possessive pronoun its in absolute form is used extremely rarely, only in conjunction with the word own:

The cottage seems asleep yet, but it may have a life of its own(Russian. It seemed that the cottage was still sleeping, but perhaps it lived its own life).

My or Mine? Possessive pronoun or adjective?

On the poster is an inscription with a vivid example of the use of possessive pronouns in dependent and absolute form: “Because my body is mine (belongs to me!)”

As already mentioned, we use possessive adjectives and pronouns when we need to express ownership. Both forms are translated into Russian in the same way.

Possessive adjective ( Possessive Adjective) is always used with a following noun:

This is my pen(Russian This is my pen), where my is a possessive adjective, pen is a subsequent noun.

Possessive pronouns ( Possessive Pronouns) are always used on their own, without an accompanying word:

This pen is mine(Russian This pen is mine), where mine- a possessive pronoun, after which we DO NOT NEED a noun.

Comparative table of possessive adjectives and possessive pronouns.

The semantic load does not change in these two sentences. However, when we need to focus on someone or something, it is better to use the absolute form.

Translation of English possessive pronouns

There is no difference in the meaning of possessive adjectives and pronouns in English and in their translation into Russian.

English possessive pronouns in dependent and absolute form are translated into Russian in the same way, but there are a few things you need to know about.

Translation of the possessive pronoun your into English

There is no special possessive pronoun in English that corresponds to the Russian possessive pronoun ""own"".

Russian pronoun ""own" in English corresponding possessive pronouns.

Example sentences in English with the translation of the pronoun svoi

English possessive pronouns are usually not translated into Russian when they are combined with nouns denoting parts of the body or items of clothing, but are always present before the noun.

In Russian, with similar nouns, possessive pronouns are usually not used. Compare English sentences with possessive sentences with translation:

Special cases of using possessive pronouns

Using the Of yours structure

Very often (especially in American English) you can hear the following construction: a friend/some friends of + mine, yours, etc:

I saw a friend of yours last night(eng. I saw one of your friends last night) = I saw one of your friends last night.

Here are some friends of mine(Russian. And here are my friends) = Here are my friends.

Offers I saw one of your friends last night and I saw a friend of yours last night translated will be the same "Last night I saw one of your friends." However, there is a slight semantic difference.

Let's look at phrases "my friend" and “a friend of mine”.

“My friend” is about a close friend. If you call a person "my friend" It means that you have a warm and trusting relationship with him. But, each of us has people with whom we just have a good relationship. These are just our friends and acquaintances. This is exactly what we need here the expression “a friend of mine”.

The indefinite article itself tells us that "one of" friends, someone indefinite:

This is my friend Jessica.("my friend" - before the name)

This is Jessica, a friend of mine.("a friend of mine" - after the name)

With a phrase "a friend of mine" associated with one amusing fact. In English culture, there is a concept urban myth(BrE) or urban legend(Ame). This is a story, usually with an unexpected, humorous or instructive ending, which the narrator passes off as a real event.

We call these stories "tales" or "fictions". These incidents allegedly happen to a certain acquaintance of the narrator, and the name of the acquaintance is never specified.

Most of these stories (or "tales") begin with the words: This happened to a friend of mine... (This happened to one of my friends...).

When to use Yours faithfully and Yours sincerely

You have probably come across the phrase Yours faithfully or Yours sincerely at the end of a formal letter, for example:

Yours sincerely, Mary Wilkinson(Russian. Sincerely, Mary Wilkinson).

At business correspondence- these are irreplaceable phrases that need to be written at the end of the letter. Read more about the features of business English.

Examples of using the phrases “Yours faithfully” and “Yours sincerely”

Using an English noun in the genitive case

Possessive nouns can be used as possessive pronouns when referring to belonging to someone in particular.

As a rule, the use of nouns in the possessive case does not affect the form of possessive pronouns, for example:

Whose cell phone is that? - It's John's.(Russian Whose phone is this? - John.)

Who do these computers belong to? - They"re our parents".(Russian. Who owns these computers? - Our parents.)

The relation of belonging or involvement of one object to another can also be indicated using the possessive case ( The Possessive case). which we will talk about in our next article.

Possessive pronouns in English: video

To finally consolidate the knowledge gained, we recommend that you watch a video about possessive adjectives and possessive pronouns.

English Grammar Lessons - Possessive Adjectives and Pronouns

Finally:

In this article, we tried to explain the use of possessive pronouns in English as simply as possible and how to correctly answer the question “whose” in English.

We hope that after reading our article, you will no longer have questions about this topic and you will be able to use this grammar correctly in your speech and writing.

Stay on our site and you will discover a lot from the world of English grammar!

Exercises for possessive pronouns

And now we invite you to test your knowledge of possessive pronouns in English by completing the following test.

Choose the correct option (insert either a possessive adjective or a possessive pronoun according to the meaning):

Jane has already eaten her lunch, but I"m saving hers/her/my/mine until later.

She has broken hers/her/his leg.

My mobile needs to be fixed, but mine/his/our/their is working.

You/Yours/Mine/My computer is a Mac, but you/your/yours/my is a PC.

We gave them ours/mine/our/yours telephone number, and they gave us their/theirs/ours/mine.

Mine/My/Yours/Your pencil is broken. Can I borrow you/yours/him/its?

Ours/Our/Your/My car is cheap, but you/your/yours/my is expensive.

You can "t have any chocolate! It" s all mine / my / our / yours!

In contact with

Personal and possessive pronouns are one of the basic topics of the English language. Therefore, it is very important to understand them and learn how to use them correctly. This article will be especially useful for those who are just starting to learn the language.

Do not be afraid of complex and incomprehensible terms. Now you will see how, in fact, everything is simple and easy.

Pronouns in English

Let's first understand what a pronoun is and why it is needed.

Pronoun- a word that indicates objects (I, you, he, she) and signs (mine, yours, hers).

With the help of pronouns, we replace words in a sentence to avoid repetition. Let's look at this with an example:

Tom is studying at the university. He(we are replacing the name Tom so as not to repeat) will finish his(replace the word university) in a year.

This is how we replaced the words "Tom" and "university" with the help of pronouns so as not to repeat them in the next sentence.

There are several groups of pronouns in English. Today we will look at 2 of them: personal pronouns and possessive ones.

Personal pronouns in English

Personal pronouns are those words with which we replace the main actor.

For example:

Mary and Sara bought tickets.
Mary and Sarah bought tickets.

They will go to the concert.
They will go to the concert.

As you can see from the example, we have replaced "Mary and Sarah" with "they".

Such pronouns can replace both one character (he, I, she, she, you), and several (you, we, they).

Examples:

I am reading a book.
I read a book.

You should watch this film.
You should watch this movie.

They love each other.
They love each other.

She like sweets.
She loves sweets.

He fixed his car.
He fixed his car.

Possessive pronouns in English

The name "possessive pronouns" (p ossessive pronouns) comes from the French word possessif (relating to possession). Such pronouns reflect the belonging of objects and the relationship between them.

They are of 2 types:

1. Used together with the subject

Such pronouns answer the question "whose?" and are placed in front of the object, indicating its belonging.

For example: This my a computer.

Examples:

he answered my question.
He answered my question.

I need your help.
I need your help.

They reached their goal.
They have reached their goal.

She attracted our attention.
She got our attention.

Let's follow his advice.
Let's follow his advice.

Finding her office was easy.
Finding her office was easy.

The dog wagged its tail.
The dog wagged her tail.

2. Used alone, without an object

Such pronouns are used to avoid repetition in a sentence. After them, you do not need to put the subject, since they already mean it.

For example: This is my computer. Your on the table.

Examples:

Can I borrow a pen? I lost mine.
Can I borrow a pen? I lost mine.

My box is smaller than yours.
My box is smaller than yours.

It's not their suitcase. Theirs is purple.
This is not their suitcase. Their purple.

Their price is below ours.
Their prices are lower than ours.

He bought a new car and sold his.
He bought a new car and sold his (his).

She took his keys and gave hers.
She took his keys and gave her (her keys).

Note that these two kinds of pronouns translate the same, but are used differently in the sentence. After the first type, an object necessarily comes, after the second, not. And now let's practice their use in practice.

Reinforcement task

Translate the following sentences into English:

1. This is not her car. Her red.
2. My dog ​​loves to play with a ball.
3. Their task is easier than ours.
4. Don't touch my computer, take it.
5. I like her dress.
6. My pen is blue, hers is green.
7. What do cats like? Mine loves to sleep.
8. My car is faster than yours.

Leave your answers in the comments below the article.