Possessive Pronouns in Russian

How to make the most of this lesson

If you're just starting to learn about the possessive pronouns in Russian, it's important that you first take a look at a few guidelines that will make your learning process easier and more effective.

1) Study the lesson in chunks. Don't try to memorize everything at once. If you're an absolute beginner, start by taking a look at the following part:

To memorize and practice the grammar and vocabulary points from this lesson, we encourage you to do our interactive exercises. You can start by doing the easy-level questions, which will help you memorize all the possessive pronouns as well as some basic Russian words.

2) Possessive pronouns in Russian change depending on the gender of the noun they describe.

If you are not familiar with the concept of gender in the Russian language yet, you can check out our complete lesson about this topic by clicking here.

Once you're familiar with the concept of gender in Russian, you can study the next part of this lesson:

To practice the use of possessive pronouns with different genders, you can do the medium-level questions of our interactive exercises.

3) Once you reach the part about possessive pronouns and cases, make sure you know what cases are and how they are used in Russian. If you're not familiar with the Russian cases yet, you can check out our complete lessons about them:

• The Genitive Case in Russian
• The Accusative Case in Russian
• The Dative Case in Russian
• The Instrumental Case in Russian
• The Prepositional Case in Russian

If you're already familiar with the Russian cases, you can study the next part of this lesson:

4) Once you've finished this lesson, make sure to do the hard-level questions of our interactive exercises, which will help you memorize and practice all the grammar points covered in this lesson.

5) Remember that you shouldn't try to memorize everything at once. Study at your own pace and don't get frustrated if you don't remember certain rules or endings.

Mastering a foreign language takes a lot of practice. At the beginning, you may not be able to use everything you've learned in this lesson in your own speech, but that's okay. Little by little, you will start forming more complex sentences using possessive pronouns.

What are possessive pronouns?

Possessive pronouns are little words that are used to show that something belongs to somebody. These are words like my, your, our, etc.

For example:

• Это мой дом.
• (This is my house)
• Это твой дом?
• (Is this your house?)
• Это наш учитель.
• (This is our teacher)

Here are all the possessive pronouns in Russian:

Let's take a look at some more sentences with possessive pronouns in Russian:

• Её телефон старый.
• (Her phone is old)
• Это его дом.
• (This is his house)
• Мне нравится их дом.
• (I like their house)
• Это ваш учитель?
• (Is this your teacher?)

The difference between ‘твой’ and ‘ваш’

Probably you've noticed that there are two words for your in Russian: твой and ваш.

We use твой when talking to one person informally. So, for example, if you want to ask if something belongs to your friend, you can use твой:

• Это твой телефон?
• (Is this your phone?)
• Это твой дом?
• (Is this your house?)

We usually use твой when talking to our parents, grandparents, siblings, friends and kids.

When talking to one person formally or more than one person, we use ваш. So, for example, a stranger on the street who wants to find out if something belongs to you might ask:

• Это ваш телефон?
• (Is this your phone?)
• Это ваш кошелёк?
• (Is this your wallet?)

And if you're talking to a group of friends, you might ask them:

• Это ваш дом?
• (Is this your house?)
• Это ваш учитель?
• (Is this your teacher?)

Note that in writing, we sometimes capitalize Ваш when addressing someone formally. For example:

• Это Ваш номер?
• (Is this your number?)
• Это Ваш адрес?
• (Is this your address?)

Possessive pronouns and gender

The possessive pronouns that you've learned so far (мой, твой, наш, etc.) are in their base forms. These forms are used only with masculine nouns:

• мой дом (my house)
• мой брат (my brother)
• твой дом (your house)
• твой брат (your brother)

In the above examples, the nouns дом and брат are masculine. That's why we use the forms мой and твой with them.

If the gender of the noun is different or the noun is plural, the ending of the possessive pronoun usually changes.

Here is a table of Russian possessive pronouns for all genders and the plural.

Let's take a look at some examples:

• мой брат - моя сестра
• (my brother - my sister)
• мой дом - моя машина
• (my house - my car)
• твой брат - твоя сестра
• (your brother - your sister)
• твой дом - твоя машина
• (your house - your car)

Did you notice that, in the above examples, the possessive pronouns on the left have the forms мой and твой, while the possessive pronouns on the right have the forms моя and твоя?

That's because the possessive pronouns on the left describe masculine nouns (брат and дом), while the pronouns on the right describe feminine nouns (сестра and машина).

Now, that might look scary, but those changes are quite logical and happen only with some of the possessive pronouns. We only need to change the endings of мой, твой, ваш and наш.

The words его, её and их always have the same form. You don't need to change their endings:

• его брат - его сестра
• (his brother - his sister)
• её дом - её машина
• (her house - her car)
• их брат - их сестра
• (their brother - their sister)

Now let's take a closer look at what forms the possessive pronouns have with feminine nouns, neuter nouns and plural nouns.

Possessive pronouns with feminine nouns

Possessive pronouns used with feminine nouns have the following forms:

Let's take a look at some example sentences:

• Это моя собака.
• (This is my dog)
• Это наша собака.
• (This is our dog)
• Мне нравится твоя собака.
• (I like your dog)
• Это ваша машина?
• (Is this your car?)
• Это твоя сестра?
• (Is this your sister?)
• Это его собака?
• (Is this his dog?)

In the above sentences, the nouns собака, машина and сестра are feminine. That's why we use the forms моя, твоя, наша and ваша. It's wrong to say мой собака or мой машина.

Also, note that the possessive pronoun его is used in its base form because it never changes.

Possessive pronouns with neuter nouns

Possessive pronouns used with neuter nouns have the following forms:

Here are some example sentences:

• Это моё яблоко.
• (This is my apple)
• Это наше молоко.
• (This is our milk)
• Мне нравится твоё платье.
• (I like your dress)
• Это ваше молоко?
• (Is this your milk?)
• Это их молоко?
• (Is this their milk?)

In the above sentences, the nouns яблоко, молоко and платье are neuter. That's why we use the forms моё, твоё, наше and ваше.

Note that the possessive pronoun их is used in its base form because it never changes.

Possessive pronouns with plural nouns

Possessive pronouns used with plural nouns have the following forms:

Here are a few examples:

• Это мои вещи.
• (These are my things)
• Это наши дети.
• (These are our kids)
• Мне нравятся твои джинсы.
• (I like your jeans)
• Это ваши дети?
• (Are these your kids?)
• Это её вещи?
• (Are these her things?)

In the above sentences, the nouns вещи, дети and джинсы are plural. That's why we use the forms мои, твои, наши and ваши.

Note that the possessive pronoun её is used in its base form because it never changes.

Possessive pronouns and cases

We've learned so far that the possessive pronoun changes according to the gender of the noun it describes (мой, моя, моё).

But that's not the only change that can happen to the possessive pronoun. The possessive pronoun can also change its form depending on the case of the noun it describes.

Let's take a look at examples of how the possessive pronouns change in different cases:

• Мой брат студент.
• (My brother is a student)
• Я звоню моему брату.
• (I call my brother)
• Ты знаешь моего брата?
• (Do you know my brother?)

In the above sentences, the noun брат appears in different cases (брату, брата) and the possessive pronoun мой changes according to the case of the noun in each sentence (моему, моего).

In the first sentence, the noun phrase мой брат is used in the Nominative Case because it's the subject of the sentence.

In the second sentence, the noun phrase моему брату is used in the Dative Case because it's the indirect object.

And in the third sentence, the noun phrase моего брата is used in the Accusative Case because it's the direct object.

Now, let's take a look at what forms the possessive pronouns have in each Russian case.

Possessive pronouns in the Nominative Case

I've got some good news for you. You already know all the forms of possessive pronouns in the Nominative Case. We looked at them in the previous part of the lesson.

Here are some examples of possessive pronouns in the Nominative Case:

• Это мой дом.
• (This is my house)
• Моя сестра студентка.
• (My sister is a student)
• Мне нравится твоя футболка.
• (I like your T-shirt)
• Это ваш телефон?
• (Is this your phone?)

Possessive pronouns in the Genitive Case

Here are the possessive pronouns in the Genitive Case in Russian:

From the above table, you can see that the masculine and neuter forms coincide, and that the possessive pronouns его, её and их never change.

Let's take a look at some examples of these forms used in a sentence:

• У моего брата есть машина.
• (My brother has a car)
• У моей сестры есть собака.
• (My sister has a dog)
• У наших друзей есть дети.
• (Our friends have children)
• У твоих родителей есть машина?
• (Do your parents have a car?)
• У его брата есть машина?
• (Does his brother have a car?)

Possessive pronouns in the Dative Case

Here are the possessive pronouns in the Dative Case in Russian:

Note that the masculine and neuter forms are the same, and the possessive pronouns его, её and их never change.

Here are some examples of possessive pronouns in the Dative Case:

• Моему брату 20 лет.
• (My brother is 20 years old)
• Моей жене нравится готовить.
• (My wife likes cooking)
• Сколько лет твоим детям?
• (How old are your children?)
• Их детям нравится петь.
• (Their children like singing)
• Они помогают нашим родителям.
• (They help our parents)

Possessive pronouns in the Accusative Case

Here are the forms of possessive pronouns in the Accusative Case in Russian:

Note that possessive pronouns used with masculine nouns and plural nouns have two different forms depending on whether the noun is animate or inanimate.

What are animate nouns?

Animate nouns refer to human beings and animals (e.g. man, doctor, woman, dog).

What are inanimate nouns?

Inanimate nouns refer to objects and abstract concepts that are not alive (e.g. table, love, money, chair).

If a masculine or plural noun is animate, you should use the same possessive pronoun as in the Genitive Case.

Here are some examples of possessive pronouns in the Accusative Case:

• Я знаю твою сестру.
• (I know your sister)
• Он любит мою еду.
• (He likes my food)
• Я видел твой дом.
• (I've seen your house)
• Я видел твоего брата.
• (I've seen your brother)
• Мы видели ваши вещи.
• (We've seen your clothes)
• Мы видели ваших детей.
• (We've seen your children)

Possessive pronouns in the Instrumental Case

Here are the forms of possessive pronouns in the Instrumental Case in Russian:

Here are some examples of possessive pronouns in the Instrumental Case:

• Он учится с моим братом.
• (He studies with my brother)
• За нашим домом стоит машина.
• (There is a car behind our house)
• Мы говорили с твоим братом.
• (We talked to your brother)
• Я говорил с вашими родителями.
• (I talked to your parents)
• Мы встретились с его друзьями.
• (We met up with his friends)

Possessive pronouns in the Prepositional Case

Here are the forms of possessive pronouns in the Prepositional Case in Russian:

Some examples of possessive pronouns in the Prepositional Case:

• В моём доме три комнаты.
• (There are three rooms in my house)
• В нашей квартире две комнаты.
• (There are two rooms in our apartment)
• Сколько комнат в вашем доме?
• (How many rooms are there in your house?)
• Она была в моей куртке.
• (She was wearing my jacket)
• Мы говорили о его родителях.
• (We talked about his parents)

Possessive pronouns used on their own

Sometimes, when we want to avoid repeating words, we use possessive pronouns without nouns:

• Чья это машина? Твоя?
• (Whose car is this? Is it yours?)
• Нет, не моя.
• (No, it's not mine)
• Её машина синяя, а моя белая.
• (Her car is blue and mine is white)
• Твой телефон отличается от моего.
• (Your phone is different from mine)
• Мои волосы длиннее твоих.
• (My hair is longer than yours)
• Наш дом больше вашего.
• (Our house is bigger than yours)

Note that, even when the possessive pronoun is used on its own, it should be in the same case as the noun that is left out:

• Твой телефон отличается от моего [телефона].
• (Your phone is different from mine)
• Мои волосы длиннее твоих [волос].
• (My hair is longer than yours)
• Наш дом больше вашего [дома].
• (Our house is bigger than yours)

Reflexive possessive pronoun ‘свой’

Sometimes, when talking about something that belongs to somebody, we don't use мой, твой, наш, etc. Instead, we use свой.

Cвой is also a possessive pronoun but unlike the ones you've learned before, it is reflexive. This means that when we use свой, we refer back to the subject of the sentence.

Usually, we use свой to say that something belongs to someone who was mentioned at the beginning of the sentence. Let's take a look at a few examples:

• Я люблю свой дом.
• (I like my house)
• Ты любишь свой дом?
• (Do you like your house?)
• Мы любим свой дом.
• (We like our house)
• Он любит свой дом.
• (He likes his house)
• Они любят свой дом.
• (They like their house)

As you can see from the above examples, the translation of свой depends on the subject of the sentence. It can be my, your, his, her, its, our and their.

Now, it wouldn't be wrong to use the usual possessive pronouns in the above examples. You could also say:

• Я люблю мой дом.
• (I like my house)
• Ты любишь твой дом?
• (Do you like your house?)
• Мы любим наш дом.
• (We like our house)

Although it's not wrong, native speakers don't usually say that. If the subject and the possessive pronoun refer to the same person, we normally use свой.

It's important to note that свой also changes according to the gender, number and the case of the noun it describes. Let's take a look at a few sentences with свой in different forms:

• Я люблю свою семью.
• (I love my family)
• Они любят своих детей.
• (They love their children)
• Она не видела своего брата.
• (She hasn't seen her brother)
• Он звонил своей жене.
• (He called his wife)

Besides the meanings mentioned above, in some contexts, the word свой can also mean ‘own’. Let's take a look at some examples:

• У меня есть своя комната.
• (I have a room of my own)
• У них свои правила.
• (They have their own rules)
• Мы хотим жить в своём доме.
• (We want to live in our own house)

Here are the forms of свой in all the cases:

Commons mistakes with ‘свой’

Since свой is very commonly used by native speakers, Russian learners often start using it as well, but sometimes where they shouldn't.

Often, students want to say things like ‘I know your brother’ and use свой to mean ‘your’:

• Я знаю своего брата.

But the meaning of the Russian sentence ends up being completely different. It means ‘I know my brother’.

Since ‘I’ and ‘your’ refer to different people, you can't use свой to mean ‘your’ in this sentence. You need to use твой:

• Я знаю твоего брата.
• (I know your brother)

So, to recap, when the subject of the sentence and the possessive pronoun refer to different people, we don't usually use свой.

When you don't need possessives in Russian

Sometimes, when it's obvious from the context to whom something belongs, we don't use any possessive words. This is especially common when talking about family members, friends and parts of the body.

For example:

• Я всегда мою руки.
• (I always wash my hands)
• Она моет голову.
• (She's washing her hair)
• Он сломал ногу.
• (He broke his leg)
• Я звоню брату.
• (I'm calling my brother)
• Он говорит с другом.
• (He's talking to his friend)

Conclusion

In this lesson, we’ve learned a lot about possessive pronouns in Russian. As you probably noticed, there are many different details that you need to keep in mind when making sentences with these words.

If you feel overwhelmed after reading this article, remember that you shouldn’t try to memorize all the details at once. Study this topic in chunks, starting with the basics and gradually increasing the level of complexity.

Also, make sure to put everything you learn into practice. You can start with our interactive exercises. Once you’ve completed all the exercises, you can try and make your own sentences using possessive pronouns.