A1: Possessive pronouns

📘 Explanation and rules

🔹 1. What are possessive pronouns?

Possessive pronouns show who owns something.
In English, these are words like my, your, his, her, our, their.
In Dutch, we use bezittelijke voornaamwoorden (possessive pronouns).

Examples:
mijn boek – my book
jouw fiets – your bike

🔹 2. The possessive pronouns in Dutch

mijn – my
mijn huis – my house

jouw – your
jouw auto – your car

uw – your (formal)
uw telefoon – your phone

zijn – his
zijn jas – his coat

haar – her
haar tas – her bag

ons – our (for het-words)
ons huis – our house

onze – our (for de-words)
onze auto – our car

jullie – your (plural)
jullie kind – your child

hun – their
hun vader – their father

🔹 3. How to use possessive pronouns

Possessive pronouns always come before the noun.
The noun keeps its normal article (de or het).

Examples:
mijn boek – my book
jouw pen – your pen
onze tafel – our table
ons huis – our house

⚠️ Pay attention to the difference between “ons” and “onze”:
ons + het-word → ons huis (our house)
onze + de-word → onze auto (our car)

🔹 4. No extra ending

Possessive pronouns do not change for gender or plural.
Only ons/onze depends on the noun it belongs to.

💬 Examples

Dit is mijn boek.
This is my book.

Is dat jouw fiets?
Is that your bike?

Hij draagt zijn jas.
He is wearing his coat.

Zij zoekt haar sleutels.
She is looking for her keys.

Wij wonen in ons huis.
We live in our house.

Onze kat is heel lief.
Our cat is very sweet.

Waar zijn jullie kinderen?
Where are your children?

Zij bezoeken hun grootouders.
They visit their grandparents.

Is dat uw tas, meneer?
Is that your bag, sir?

Mijn vriend en jouw zus kennen elkaar.
My friend and your sister know each other.