Pronoun Types 15
- Lecture1.1
  
  Personal pronouns
- Lecture1.2
  
  Personal pronoun exercises
- Lecture1.3
  
  Possessive pronouns
- Lecture1.4
  
  Possessive pronoun exercises
- Lecture1.5
  
  Gender and pronouns
- Lecture1.6
  
  Stressed and unstressed pronouns
- Lecture1.7
  
  Reflexive pronouns
- Lecture1.8
  
  Demonstrative pronouns
- Lecture1.9
  
  Demonstrative pronoun exercises
- Lecture1.10
  
  Interrogative pronouns
- Lecture1.11
  
  Interrogative pronoun exercises
- Lecture1.12
  
  Relative pronouns
- Lecture1.13
  
  Relatvie pronoun exercises
- Lecture1.14
  
  Indefinite pronouns
- Lecture1.15
  
  Pronouns exercises (advanced)

Possessive pronouns

Possessive pronouns are used to show that something belongs to someone:

Dit is een foto van mijn huis.
This is a photo of my house.

The possessive relationship can extend to people:

Mijn naam is Hanna van Vliet. Ik ben jouw mentor.
My name is Hanna van Vliet. I am your mentor.

Note that possessive constructions with proper names also exist.

Here is a table of the Dutch possessive pronouns.

singular	1	mijn	my
informal	2	jouw	your
formal		uw	your
feminine	3	haar	here
masculine		zijn	his
neuter		zijn	its
plural	1	ons/onze	our
	2	jullie	your
	3	hun	their

Notes

This table lists the (formally) stressed forms. You can read more on the difference between stressed and unstressed in the lesson on stressed and unstressed pronouns.
The second person is divided into formal and informal. The formal form is both singular and plural. You can read more on the use of the second-person pronouns in the course on politeness.
You can read more on how third-person pronouns are used to refer to people, animals, objects, place names, etc. in the lesson on gender and pronouns.
The first person plural is the only possessive pronoun that declines according to the gender of the noun it accompanies: onze for de words, ons for het words.

Possessive construction with proper names

Possessive contruction with proper names also exist in Dutch. This can be done in three different ways:

het adres van Alan
Alans adres
Alan z’n adres

de buren van Hanna
Hanna’s buren
Hanna d’r buren

These constructions express the same possessive relationship, but the third versions (Alan z’n adres, Hanna d’r buren) is more likely to occur in informal registers.

Note the absence of the apostrophe in the spelling of the Dutch Alans adres compared with English: ‘Alan’s address’. An apostrophe is used only when the noun ends in an /s/ sound or a vowel (a, e, i, o, u, y).

de boeken van Mulisch = Mulisch’ boeken
de romans van Claus = Claus’ romans
de buren van Hanna = Hanna’s buren
de auto van Freddy = Freddy’s auto

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Next Possessive pronoun exercises

Pronoun Types 15

Possessive pronouns

Notes

Possessive construction with proper names