The pronoun mine in English. Difference between my and mine. Possessive adjectives and pronouns in English

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

Personal pronouns in English

In English, a personal pronoun is used instead of a noun that we know or have already mentioned. This allows you to avoid repetitions in speech.

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

Agree, there is 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. - This Jim. He police officer and lives in New York.

A personal pronoun can be:

Subject pronoun
This pronoun is used in place of the subject in a sentence and denotes the one who performs the action. Subjective pronouns come before the verb and answer the questions “who?” So what?".
Object pronoun
The pronoun is used in a sentence instead of an object, that is, the action is directed to it. Object pronouns come after the verb and answer the questions “whom?/what?”, “to whom?/what?”, “whom?/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 features of these pronouns:

Pronoun I
I is always written with a capital letter.
I am a dreamer. - I dreamer.
Mom says I can do it. - Mom says that I I can do it.
If I is in a sentence next to another personal pronoun, then I is placed 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 to refer to people. And to denote inanimate objects, phenomena and animals, the pronoun it is used.
You know Jane. She is kind and modest. - You know Jane. She kind and modest.
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 as a member of the family, when talking about him, you can use he or she rather than 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 weather, time, distance, etc.
It's a quarter to nine. - It's fifteen minutes to nine now.
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 is translated as "you", "you" or "you" depending on the context, but agrees with the plural verb.
You look good in this dress. - You you look good in this dress.
You all are beautiful. - You everyone is beautiful.
Mrs. Walmer, I think you will be a good nurse. - Mrs. Walmer, I think You you will be a good nurse.

Personal pronouns instead of objects

In the table we present personal pronouns that are used instead of an object and appear in a sentence after the verb.

Personal pronouns
Singular	Plural
me (me, me, me, about me)	us (us, us, us, about us)
you (you, you, by you, about you)	you (you, to you, by you, about you)
him, her, it (his/her, him/her, im/her, about him/her)	them (their, them, them, about them)

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, on, in, with, for and others.

Stay with us. - Stay with us.
I am doing this for her. - I do it for her.

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

Possessive adjectives and pronouns in English

In English there are two possessive forms:

Possessive adjectives
Possessive pronouns(possessive pronouns)

Both forms denote that something belongs to someone and answer the question “whose?/whose?/whose?/whose?”

Although this article is about pronouns, we will also cover adjectives so you don't get them confused.

Personal pronouns	Possessive adjectives	Possessive pronouns
I	my (my)	mine (my)
he	his (him)	his (him)
she	her (her)	hers (her)
it	its (his/her)	its (his/her)
we	our (our)	ours (our)
you	your (yours/yours)	yours (yours/yours)
they	their	theirs (theirs)

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

A possessive pronoun does not characterize a noun, but replaces the construction “possessive adjective + noun”. Most often, such pronouns appear 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 more beautiful yours.
Her cake was better than theirs. - Her cake was tastier than their.

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 “svoy”. 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 it my (mine) bag, and you take it my (yours).
The possessive adjective and the possessive pronoun its are written without an apostrophe. If you meet it's, then this is an abbreviation grammatical form: it’s = it + is.
The cat played with its(possessive adjective) toy. - The cat was playing with his a 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). - Every district of the city has your own charm.

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

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

Try taking 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 of the correct use of personal and possessive pronouns in English. If you want to practice the rules you have learned using examples that you understand, go to one of them.

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As we have already said, a pronoun is a part of speech that indicates an object or its belonging, but does not name the object itself. English pronouns are divided into personal, possessive, indefinite, interrogative, reflexive, . In today's post we will look at personal and possessive pronouns.

Personal pronouns in English

In English, the following personal pronouns are distinguished:

As a rule, we need personal pronouns to designate persons or objects depending on their relationship to the speaker. Thus, the pronoun I is used to designate the speaker himself; we – to designate other persons along with the speaker himself; they – someone else other than the speaker and his interlocutors.

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English personal pronouns can be modified depending on person, case (only nominative and objective cases are distinguished), number, gender (only pronouns in the third person singular indicate the gender of the speaker).

Here are the English personal pronouns you need to remember

If the personal pronoun is in the nominative case, then in the sentence it will serve as the subject:

He is hungry - he is hungry
We did not go to school yesterday – Yesterday we did not go to school

And if we have a pronoun in the objective case, then in the sentence it will be an addition:

He brought those beautiful roses for me - he brought these beautiful roses for me
Our teacher told us about a famous hero - The teacher told us about the famous hero

Sometimes, when we need to talk about ourselves, we use the objective case form of the pronoun “I” - Me.

Who opened the box without permission? – Me – Who opened the box without permission? - I
Look, this is me in the picture - Look, this is me in the photograph.

The pronoun I should always be written capital letter, even if it is in the middle of a sentence, and the pronoun you is used for both the second person singular - you and the plural - you. The pronoun it is used to replace nouns denoting an inanimate object.

Possessive pronouns in English

Possessive pronouns are used in cases where it is necessary to indicate that an object belongs to a person. They differ in numbers and persons, and always come before the noun as a modifier; ь is not used with them.

The English pronoun “your” is also translated into one of the possessive pronouns, depending on the context:

He thanked and went his way - he thanked and went his way
Don’t leave your things here – Don’t leave your things here

If there is no noun after the personal pronoun, the so-called is used.

The absolute form of possessive pronouns is used in stable phrases - a friend of mine / yours / his / ours - my / your / his / our friend, one of the friends, a neighbor of mine / yours/his/ours - one of the neighbors, etc. d.

A friend of mine gave me your telephone number – One of my friends gave me your phone number.

Any student starting to learn English from scratch on their own or with a teacher will already learn in the first lesson how to answer the question “ What's your name?” (Russian. What is your name?).

Answering “ My name is...“ (Russian. My name is...), he doesn’t even think that he already knows two possessive pronouns: my(my, mine, mine. mine) and your(Russian: yours, yours, yours, yours), without which it is impossible to communicate 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 in the same way we own our shoes? Do we own it all?

~ Samantha Harvey

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

IN English grammar Two types of possessive pronouns coexist peacefully: Possessive Adjectives(possessive adjectives) and Possessive Pronouns(possessive pronouns). We will talk about them today in this article.

Possessive pronouns in English

Possessive pronouns help us understand that someone or something owns something. Signature on keychains: 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 attribute 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 vary in spelling and how they are used in a sentence.

Let's take a closer look at both forms of possessive pronouns in English.

Possessive Adjectives

Possessive pronouns in English, reminiscent of an adjective in its 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 !

Offer He name was Carl(Russian. His name was Karl) sounds strange and incorrect 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 possessive pronouns or Possessive Adjectives called dependent, since it cannot be used independently, 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 serve as a definition in a sentence.

Example sentences with possessive adjectives in English

Often, beginners learning English confuse possessive adjectives with abbreviated 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 abbreviated 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 Pronouns) in English are used without a noun and serve in a sentence as the subject, object, or nominal part of the predicate.

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 look at how possessive pronouns are used in a sentence.

Examples of sentences with possessive pronouns in English

Sentence with possessive pronoun	Translation into Russian
What's mine is yours, my friend.	What's mine is yours, my friend.
I have broken my pencil. Please give me yours.	I broke my pencil. Please give me yours.
Are those gloves hers?	Those gloves are hers?
All the essays were good but his was the best.	All the essays were good, but his was the best.
The world is mine.	The world is mine.
Your photos are good. Ours are terrible.	Your photos are great, but ours are terrible.
These aren't John and Mary's children. Theirs have black hair.	These are not John and Mary's children. Theirs are black-haired.
John found his passport but Mary couldn't find hers.	John found his passport, but Mary could not find hers.
Is that chair yours?	Is this chair yours?
I know this drink is yours but I need to drink something.	I know this drink is yours, but I need something to drink.

Possessive pronoun its in absolute form it 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?

The poster has an inscription with a striking example of the use of possessive pronouns in the 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 followed by a noun:

This is my pen(Russian: This is my pen), where my– possessive adjective, pen – following noun.

Possessive pronouns ( Possessive Pronouns) are always used independently, 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.

Comparison chart of possessive adjectives and possessive pronouns.

The semantic load does not change in these two sentences. However, when we need to emphasize 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 their translation into Russian.

English possessive pronouns in dependent and absolute forms 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

In English there is no special possessive pronoun corresponding to the Russian possessive pronoun ""svoy"".

Russian pronoun ""your"" translated into English appropriate possessive pronouns.

Examples of sentences in English with translation of the pronoun your

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, possessive pronouns are usually not used with similar nouns. 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(Russian: I saw one of your friends last night) = I saw one of your friends last night.

Here are some friends of mine(Russian: 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 will be translated the same way: “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” will be said about a close friend. If you call a person “my friend”, it means you have a warm and trusting relationship with him. But each of us has people with whom we just have good relationship. These are just our friends and acquaintances. This is exactly what we need here: “a friend of mine”.

Myself indefinite article indicates to us that “one of” friends, someone undefined:

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 the phrase "a friend of mine" associated with one funny fact. In English-speaking 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 "fiction". 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've probably already come across the phrases Yours faithfully or Yours sincerely at the end of an official letter, for example:

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

In 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 to talk about 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? - Jonah.)

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

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

Possessive pronouns in English: video

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

English Grammar Lessons - Possessive Adjectives and Pronouns

In conclusion:

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

We hope that after reading our article, you will no longer have any questions on 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 on possessive pronouns

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

Select correct option(insert either possessive adjective or possessive pronoun):

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/Your/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!

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.

Don't be intimidated by complex and obscure terms. Now you will see how simple and easy everything really is.

Pronouns in English

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

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

We use pronouns to replace words in a sentence to avoid repetition. Let's look at this with an example:

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

This is how we used pronouns to replace the words “Tom” and “university” 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 possessives.

Personal pronouns in English

Personal pronouns are the words with which we replace the main character.

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 replaced "Mary and Sarah" with the pronoun "they".

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

Personal pronoun	Translation	Note
I	I	Always capitalized, regardless of whether it is at the beginning of a sentence or not.
You	you/you	Can be translated “you” or “you” depending on the situation of use
We	We
They	They	Refers to both living beings and non-living things in the plural
He	He	Used to refer to people. Can sometimes be used to refer to animals (for example, when the animal is considered a member of the family)
She	she
It	it	Used to denote inanimate objects, animals, abstract concepts

Examples:

I am reading a book.
I'm reading a book.

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

They love each other.
They love each other.

She likes sweets.
She loves sweets.

He fixed his car.
He fixed his car.

Possessive pronouns in English

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

They come in 2 types:

1. Used with an item

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

For example: This my computer.

Personal pronouns	Possessives	Translation
I	my	my
You	your	yours/yours
We	our	our
They	their	their
He	his	his
She	her	her
It	its	his/ee

Examples:

He didn't answer my question.
He answered my question.

I need your help.
I need your help.

They reached their goal
They achieved their goal.

She attracted our attention.
She caught 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 independently, without an object

Such pronouns are used to avoid repetition in a sentence. There is no need to place an object after them, since they already imply it.

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

Personal pronouns	Possessives	Translation
I	mine	my
You	yours	yours/yours
We	ours	our
They	theirs	their
He	his	his
She	hers	her
It	its	his/ee

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. Theirs is purple.

Their price is below ours.
Their price is 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 hers (her keys).

Please note that these two types of pronouns are translated the same way, but are used differently in the sentence. After the first type there is always an object, after the second there is not. Now let's practice using them in practice.

Reinforcement task

Translate the following sentences into English:

1. This is not her car. Hers is red.
2. My dog loves to play with the ball.
3. Their task is easier than ours.
4. Don't touch my computer, take her.
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.

Possessives are useful when we want to say that something belongs to someone. In English, unlike Russian, there are two forms: possessive pronouns and possessive adjectives. We are talking about the latter - possessive adjectives in English today.

General information

Before we begin to consider theory, let's turn to practice. You can say the following about your house: “This is my house” or “This house is mine.” At first glance, there is no difference: rearranging the place of the lexeme “my” does not change the meaning of the sentence. This statement is partly true for the English language. But only partly, since in the first case the possessive adjective my (my) is used, and in the second the possessive pronoun mine (my).

The structure of these sentences is also different:

This is my house - This is my house.
This house is mine - This house is mine.

As you can see, in the first example, the possessive adjective my (my) comes before the noun, describing it and answering the question What? (Which?). In the second, the possessive pronoun stands at the end of the sentence, replacing the noun and not naming it. But this is practice. Now let's move on to the theory.

Possessive adjectives

In English there are 8 possessive adjectives based on the number of personal pronouns:

*Personal pronouns*	*Possessive adjectives*	Possessives pronouns

		Yours (yours)

They answer the question “Whose?” and describe an object, indicating that it belongs to someone or something. As befits an adjective, it is used before the noun it modifies, but always without an article:

TOP 4 articleswho are reading along with this

my children - my children, his son - his son, her work - her work, our city - our city.

Please note to the possessive adjective its (his), which denotes that something belongs to an animal or inanimate object. It should not be confused with it’s, which is a short form of the combination of the pronoun and the verb It is (It is) or It has (It has).

Possessive pronouns

As can be seen from the table above in English there are 7 possessive pronouns. They indicate that an object or objects belong to one or more persons. Their function is to replace a noun. Therefore, in a sentence they are usually used independently, without nouns, at the beginning or at the end of the sentence:

This city is ours - This city is ours.
This red bag is hers - This red bag is hers.
These pens are theirs - These pens are theirs.

In the case where previously we were talking about any object, person or phenomenon expressed by a noun, and this is clear from the context, instead of this noun the corresponding possessive pronoun is used at the beginning of the sentence:

Our flat is on the third floor. Theirs (their flat) is on the fifth. - Our apartment is on the third floor. Theirs is on the fifth.
His brother works at the factory. Mine (my bother) works at the office. - His brother works at a factory. Mine is in the office.

Please note to the fact that in Russian textbooks on English grammar, possessive forms are not divided into possessive adjectives and pronouns, and are classified only as possessive pronouns. English and American textbook authors insist on separation.

What have we learned?

In English there are possessive adjectives and possessive pronouns. The former are always used without an article before a noun. Possessive pronouns come at the end or beginning of a sentence and are not used after them by a noun.

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