There are two forms of possessive adjectives in Spanish: a short form used before nouns and a long form used after nouns. The short form agrees in gender and number with the noun it modifies, while the long form is used after the noun and does not change form. Some examples of changing from the short form to the long form are provided.

1. Possessive adjectives

2. Showing Possession In Spanish there are NO apostrophes. You cannot say, for example, Jorge’s dog, (using an apostrophe)

3. Showing Posession You must say, “The dog of Jorge,” only in Spanish. Like this: El perro de Jorge.

4. De + noun This concept of showing possession is using “ de + noun .” For example: Tengo el cuaderno de Felipe.

5. General info Unlike English, Spanish has two forms of possessive adjectives: a short form that is used before nouns and a long form that is used after nouns. The more common type is the short form that you learned in Spanish 1. We will review the short term and then learn the long form.

6. Short Form—before noun Possessive adjectives show ownership or relationships between people. ellas ella sus libros ellos sus libros él su libro ustedes su libro usted tus libros tu libro t ú nuestros libros/ nuestras casas mis libros nuestro libro/ nuestra casa nosotros(as) mi libro yo Owner Owner

7. Gender and number agreement While possessive adjectives refer to the owner, their form agrees in gender and number with the noun that comes after them. Martín vive con su s abuelo s . Carlos y yo vivimos con nuestr a abuel a . refers to agrees grammatically

8. Long Form—after noun Possessive adjectives show ownership or relationships between people. ellas ella suyos, suyas ellos suyos, suyas él suyo, suya ustedes suyo, suya usted tuyos, tuyas tuyo, tuya t ú nuestros, nuestras m ío s, mías nuestro, nuestra nosotros m ío, mía yo Owner Owner

9. Long form—ejemplos Este pupitre es de Juan. Ese pupitre es . El perro es de ellos. Es el perro . Mi toalla est á en el baño. Es la toalla . Change to the long form: Mi blusa su vestido Tus camisas Nuestros libros m ío suyo mía La blusa mía El vestido suyo Las camisas tuyas Los libros nuestros

10. Just a note… As you may have noticed, the short form and long forms of nuestro are identical. They differ only as to whether they are used before or after the noun.