Possessive adjectives (my, your, his, her...)

To say whose something is, English uses a small set of words that go right before a noun: my phone, your name, her brother. These are the possessive adjectives (sometimes called possessive determiners) — they don't tell you what kind of thing the noun is, only who it belongs to.

Quick shortcut: a possessive adjective goes in the same spot a/an/the would go — before the noun, and before any adjectives that describe it. It never stands alone as the whole noun phrase.

The possessive adjectives

Subject pronoun	Possessive adjective	Example
I	my	my book
you	your	your name
he	his	his car
she	her	her phone
it	its	its leg
we	our	our house
they	their	their dog

Each one matches the owner, not the thing owned. For people, use his for a man or boy and her for a woman or girl, whatever the object itself is: He has a bag. → His bag is red. She has a car. → Her car is red. For an animal, people often use his/her if they know its sex, or its if they don't. Their covers more than one owner, and is also very common for a single person when the gender isn't known or stated: Someone left their phone here.

Where they go

A possessive adjective comes before the noun — and before any adjectives describing that noun — and it never changes for plural nouns:

My sister lives in Paris.
Your keys are on the table.
I like their new apartment. (their comes before new, not right before apartment)
The cat is licking its paw.

Because a possessive adjective already marks the noun as specific, it never appears together with a/an or the in front of the same noun: ✅ my book, never ❌ a my book or ❌ the my book.

They work for relationships too, not just objects

Possessive adjectives are just as common for people and relationships as for things you own:

My mother is a teacher.
Is that your brother?
Our teacher is very kind.

its vs. it's

These two look almost identical but mean completely different things, and mixing them up is one of the most common mistakes in English:

✅ Its tail is long. = The tail belongs to it.
✅ It's raining. (= it is — a contraction, with an apostrophe)

Its (no apostrophe) shows possession, right before a noun. It's (with an apostrophe) is short for it is or it has. A simple check: if you can replace the word with it is or it has, you need the apostrophe — otherwise use its.

Possessive adjectives vs. other ways to show possession

Possessive adjectives are only one of several tools English uses for "belonging":

To say that someone possesses something, use the verb have or have got: I have a ticket. A possessive adjective is added on top of that when it's already clear whose thing you mean: I have my ticket (the specific ticket that's mine). See Have got / have for that verb itself.
English also has a way to add possession directly onto a name or noun, like Anna's book — you'll meet that as its own topic separately.
If you want to say whose something is without repeating the noun (This book is mine, not This book is my), English uses a related but different set of words. See Possessive pronouns once you're ready for that step.

Common mistakes

❌ This is her's book. → ✅ This is her book. (possessive adjectives never take an apostrophe or an -s)
❌ I like you dog. → ✅ I like your dog. (don't drop the -r)
❌ The dog wagged it's tail. → ✅ The dog wagged its tail. (no apostrophe when it means "belonging to it")
❌ He lost his's keys. → ✅ He lost his keys. (his is already the complete possessive adjective — don't add an apostrophe or another -s)
❌ A my friend called me. → ✅ My friend called me. (don't use a/an/the together with a possessive adjective)

Quick check

Choose the correct possessive adjective:

Anna has a car. ____ car is blue. (her / hers)
I have a brother. ____ name is Tom. (his / him)
The dog is hungry. ____ bowl is empty. (it's / its)
We have a big garden. ____ garden is green. (our / ours)
They have a new flat. ____ flat is in London. (their / they)

Show answers

Her 2. His 3. Its 4. Our 5. Their

Key takeaways

Possessive adjectives — my, your, his, her, its, our, their — go right before a noun to show who it belongs to.
They match the owner, not the thing owned: he → his, she → her.
They never take an apostrophe or an -s, and never combine with a/an/the on the same noun.
Don't confuse its (possession) with it's (= it is/it has).
They don't stand alone without a noun — for that, English uses possessive pronouns instead (mine, yours, his...).