La posesión en
el español
Expressing
Possession in
Spanish
Possession in English
•  In English we use the
contraction
s or
s to express that
someone possesses or
owns an object.
ex: That is Jessica s
diamond ring.
•  Occasionally we will
express this idea in a
longer form.
ex: Jessica is a friend
of mine.
Possession in Spanish
•  In Spanish there is NO CONTRACTION
to express possession!
•  You must not use S to express
ownership of an item!
•  Instead you will use the word de and
the name of the person or persons who
own the item.
Possession in Spanish
•  To say that someone or something belongs to
someone or something else use the following
formula:
Examples:
el baile de Señora Read
la abuela de Ana y Pablo
la idea de los niños
la plaza de Madrid
Mrs. Read's dance
Pablo and Ana's grandmother
the kids' idea
Madrid's plaza
•  Note that you must include the definite article in
front of the thing possessed.
Práctica
Try these phrases on your own:
•  Emily s money
el dinero de Emily
•  the students books
los libros de los estudiantes
•  the class s dog
el perro de la clase
•  Mexico s flag
la bandera de México
•  Michael s homework
la tarea de Miguel
Possessive Adjectives
Definition:
An adjective used
with a noun (or
less commonly, a
pronoun) to
indicate possession,
ownership or close
relationship.
ex: my valentine
his book
Possession in English
In English, these are the possessive adjectives:
•  My
•  Your
•  His
•  Her
•  Its
•  Our
•  Their
Possession in Spanish
•  As we continue learning in Spanish
class we will come to know all of the
possessive adjectives in Spanish, but
for now we will focus on two words
that will help us express possession
when talking about other people.
Su/ sus
•  Su and sus can mean a lot of
things in Spanish including:
–  His
–  Her
–  Your (formal/ Ud.)
–  Their
Examples:
–  The smelly man s sock.
Su calcetín.
–  The supermodel s shoes.
Sus zapatos.
–  Your awesome Spanish class. Su clase de español
asombroso.
–  Their mean brother.
Su hermano antipático.
More Examples
•  Paris necesita un
sandwich.
•  Paris s sandwich
could be written as:
– El sandwich de
Paris.
Or
– Su sandwich.
Agreement with Possessive
Adjectives
•  The final thing you should know is
that su does not depend on how
many people own an item, but instead
on whether what is owned is singular
or plural.
•  Examples:
Their hat.
His chocolates.
Su sombrero.
Sus chocolates.
•  It s not who owns it, it s what they
own.
Práctica
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
The boy s hat
Maria s pencils
Arnold s English
Your papers
Romeo and
Juliette s kiss
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
Su sombrero.
Sus lápices.
Su inglés.
Sus papeles.
Su beso.