Possessive pronoun
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2009) |
 |
It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Possessive adjective. (Discuss) |
| Examples |
|---|
|
| English grammar series |
|---|
|
|
|
|
A possessive pronoun is a part of speech that substitutes for a possessive determiner and a noun. For example, in the sentence These glasses are mine, not yours, the words mine and yours are possessive pronouns and stand for my glasses and your glasses, respectively. Like other pronouns, possessive pronouns can thus obviate the need to repeat nouns or noun phrases. (Sometimes the possessive determiners – my, your etc. – are themselves classified as possessive pronouns; see Possessive determiner: Nomenclature.)
There are seven possessive pronouns in modern English: mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, and theirs, plus the antiquated possessive pronoun thine (see also English personal pronouns). The word its is, however, rarely used as such (almost always it functions as a possessive determiner).
Some languages have neither possessive pronouns nor possessive determiners, and express possession by declining the personal pronouns (the equivalents of I, you etc.) in the genitive or possessive case, or by using possessive suffixes. In Finnish, for example, minun (literally "I's"), means mine or my.[citation needed]
