what is it?
A possessive article replaces the indefinite article ein/eine to show who something belongs to. German has one possessive article for each grammatical person: mein (my), dein (your, informal), sein (his/its), ihr (her/their), unser (our), euer (your, plural informal), and Ihr (your, formal). Like ein, they take endings that agree with the gender, number, and case of the noun they modify — these are called ein-word endings.
when to use it
Identifying the possessor. Choose the possessive article that matches the person or thing doing the owning, not the thing owned. A female possessor uses ihr-; a male or neuter possessor uses sein-.
Replacing an indefinite article. Use a possessive article wherever you would otherwise use ein/eine/einen — that is, when the noun is not yet known to the listener or when you are making a general statement about possession.
Nominative vs. accusative. At A1 you need two cases. Use the nominative when the possessed noun is the subject of the sentence, and the accusative when it is the direct object.
formation
Take the base form of the possessive article and add the same ending that ein would take for the same noun. The table below shows all nominative and accusative forms. Masculine accusative is the only case where an ending appears that differs from the nominative.
| masc. nom. | masc. acc. | fem. nom./acc. | neut. nom./acc. | plural nom./acc. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| mein (my) | mein | meinen | meine | mein | meine |
| dein (your) | dein | deinen | deine | dein | deine |
| sein (his/its) | sein | seinen | seine | sein | seine |
| ihr (her/their) | ihr | ihren | ihre | ihr | ihre |
| unser (our) | unser | unseren | unsere | unser | unsere |
| euer (your pl.) | euer | euren | eure | euer | eure |
| Ihr (your form.) | Ihr | Ihren | Ihre | Ihr | Ihre |
euer drops the inner e before any ending: euer → eure (not «euere»), euren (not «eueren»).
examples in context
common pitfalls
Choosing sein/ihr by the possessed noun, not the possessor.
The base form — sein- or ihr- — is fixed by who owns the thing, not by the gender of the thing itself. Maria is female, so she always uses ihr- regardless of what she owns. «*Maria sucht seinen Schlüssel» is wrong; the correct form is «Maria sucht ihren Schlüssel».
Dropping the feminine or plural ending.
Feminine and plural nouns always require the ending -e in the nominative and accusative. «*mein Schwester» omits this ending; the correct form is «meine Schwester».
Failing to decline euer.
euer loses its inner -e- whenever an ending is added. «*euer Kinder» is wrong on two counts: the plural ending is missing and the stem is uncontracted. The correct form is «eure Kinder».