12.11 The endings of possessive determiners

When used as determiners, the possessives ("mein", "dein", "sein", "ihr", "Ihr" etc.) have the same endings as the indefinite article. The table below gives the endings for "ihr" (= her; their):

Examples

Note the endings on the possessives in the following sentences:

 

Während meines Sommerkurses habe ich ein Zimmer im Wohnheim.

(During my summer course I have a room in the halls of residence.)

Das Zimmer ist wegen ihres Auslandaufenthalts zu vermieten.

(The room is available due to her stay abroad.)

Hier ist der Couchtisch seiner Freundin.

(This is his girlfriend's coffee table.)

The "-er" of "unser" (= our) and "euer" (= your) is part of the stem and not an ending. The endings are attached to this stem as in the table below:

When "euer", the informal version of the second person plural "you", has endings, the "-e-" of the stem is usually dropped in both spoken and written German.

Examples

Note the endings on the possessives in the following sentences:

 

Statt unserer Wohnung hat er ein Atelier gekauft.

(He bought a studio instead of our flat.)

Das ist das Schlafzimmer unseres Sohnes.

(This is our son's bedroom.)

Trotz eures unordentlichen Zimmers dürft ihr Fußball spielen.

(You can play football despite your untidy room.)

In eurer Garage gibt es im Moment kein Auto.

(There isn't a car in your garage at the moment.)