Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
*“My”* or *“Mine”? “Their”* or *“Theirs”?* Do you know which word to use in every situation? Watch and learn the easy English grammar rules to know which word to choose – every time. I will show you the simple difference between possessive adjectives and possessive pronouns, so you’ll always make the right choice. You’ll also learn how to pronounce these words correctly so you don’t make mistakes when speaking. A short investment of your time: a lifetime of better English. Test yourself with the quiz at engVid.com here: engvid.com
Fix your English a little bit every day with my course: 10.bexenglish.com
More of my beginner grammar videos:
youtu.be/7A9MFMk8Kzg
youtu.be/xsNabJFuZR4
Transcript:
In this lesson, you'll learn how to show that something belongs to someone in English. Okay? Now, there are basically two ways in which we do this, and I'm going to show you exactly what they are, how to use them, and how not to confuse them. Okay? It's really easy, and I'm sure you're going to get it. So, let's get started. So, you can see that I've divided the board, here, into two parts. Right? You see some words here; you see some other words here. Now, just for you to know and for anyone who's interested in grammatical terminology: These, here, are called "possessive adjectives", and the ones over here are called "possessive pronouns". So, what does that actually mean? Let's see what it means in terms of actual usage. So, let's look at the example at the top. "This is my book." Here, I've used "my" - a possessive adjective. "My book". Or I could say: "This book is mine." Now, what's the difference between these two sentences? Well, in the first book... in the first example, we saw that after the word "my", we had the word "book", which means after these possessive adjectives, you need to have a noun. Okay? A noun could be a person, a place, a thing. Right? Or an idea. "My book", "my friend", "my home", "my car". Right? "My idea", "my opinion". So, after these words - okay? - these possessive adjectives, you have to have a noun. But if the sentence construction or the question construction is different, then you use these possessive pronouns, like here: "This book is mine." So, after these words, these possessive pronouns - you do not have any noun. So, you cannot say: "Mine car" - no. You can only say: "My car". Okay? All right? That's the basic rule, and that's all there is - that these must be followed by a noun, and these must not be followed by a noun. Okay? But let's understand a little bit more about them now - okay? - one by one.
So, of course, these represent, what? These are used as... to show possession, but this one is... these are the subject pronouns. Okay? These are who they refer to. So: "I"... okay? "I", and "This is my book"; "you" and "your book"; "he" - meaning a boy or a man - "his book"; "she" - referring to a woman or girl - "her book". Okay? "We" - that means "you and me", or "me" and a few other people - "we", "This is our house", "our book". Okay? Or "they", those people over there... okay? Not "me"; "them". Okay. "They" and there we... then use the word: "their car", "their book". Okay? So, repeat after me: "My book", "your book", "his book", "her book", "our book", "their book". Okay? Now, something else about English - I said: "book", but I could have said: "books". In English, these possessive adjectives, these words don't change based on the word... the noun that we use. So, the noun could be singular or plural; I still say: "my"; I don't change that. Okay? It doesn't have to match, like in some other languages. Okay? So, I could say: "My books", "your cars" - okay? - "his friends", and so on. Doesn't matter. Also, it doesn't matter in English if the item that we put here, if... especially if we're talking about a person - is male or female. So, I could say: "My husband", or somebody could say: "My wife". Right? Or: "My son", "my daughter", and it doesn't matter. Again, this word doesn't change based on if it's singular or plural, or if it's male or female. Okay? So, that's one easy part about English. Sometimes easy. Sometimes English is actually easier in some ways than some other languages. Okay? Now, what's the other equivalent of this? The possessive pronouns, which we use mostly at the end of sentences. Right? For example, if somebody says: "Whose...? Whose cellphone is this?" […]
*“My”* or *“Mine”? “Their”* or *“Theirs”?* Do you know which word to use in every situation? Watch and learn the easy English grammar rules to know which word to choose – every time. I will show you the simple difference between possessive adjectives and possessive pronouns, so you’ll always make the right choice. You’ll also learn how to pronounce these words correctly so you don’t make mistakes when speaking. A short investment of your time: a lifetime of better English. Test yourself with the quiz at engVid.com here: engvid.com
Fix your English a little bit every day with my course: 10.bexenglish.com
More of my beginner grammar videos:
youtu.be/7A9MFMk8Kzg
youtu.be/xsNabJFuZR4
Transcript:
In this lesson, you'll learn how to show that something belongs to someone in English. Okay? Now, there are basically two ways in which we do this, and I'm going to show you exactly what they are, how to use them, and how not to confuse them. Okay? It's really easy, and I'm sure you're going to get it. So, let's get started. So, you can see that I've divided the board, here, into two parts. Right? You see some words here; you see some other words here. Now, just for you to know and for anyone who's interested in grammatical terminology: These, here, are called "possessive adjectives", and the ones over here are called "possessive pronouns". So, what does that actually mean? Let's see what it means in terms of actual usage. So, let's look at the example at the top. "This is my book." Here, I've used "my" - a possessive adjective. "My book". Or I could say: "This book is mine." Now, what's the difference between these two sentences? Well, in the first book... in the first example, we saw that after the word "my", we had the word "book", which means after these possessive adjectives, you need to have a noun. Okay? A noun could be a person, a place, a thing. Right? Or an idea. "My book", "my friend", "my home", "my car". Right? "My idea", "my opinion". So, after these words - okay? - these possessive adjectives, you have to have a noun. But if the sentence construction or the question construction is different, then you use these possessive pronouns, like here: "This book is mine." So, after these words, these possessive pronouns - you do not have any noun. So, you cannot say: "Mine car" - no. You can only say: "My car". Okay? All right? That's the basic rule, and that's all there is - that these must be followed by a noun, and these must not be followed by a noun. Okay? But let's understand a little bit more about them now - okay? - one by one.
So, of course, these represent, what? These are used as... to show possession, but this one is... these are the subject pronouns. Okay? These are who they refer to. So: "I"... okay? "I", and "This is my book"; "you" and "your book"; "he" - meaning a boy or a man - "his book"; "she" - referring to a woman or girl - "her book". Okay? "We" - that means "you and me", or "me" and a few other people - "we", "This is our house", "our book". Okay? Or "they", those people over there... okay? Not "me"; "them". Okay. "They" and there we... then use the word: "their car", "their book". Okay? So, repeat after me: "My book", "your book", "his book", "her book", "our book", "their book". Okay? Now, something else about English - I said: "book", but I could have said: "books". In English, these possessive adjectives, these words don't change based on the word... the noun that we use. So, the noun could be singular or plural; I still say: "my"; I don't change that. Okay? It doesn't have to match, like in some other languages. Okay? So, I could say: "My books", "your cars" - okay? - "his friends", and so on. Doesn't matter. Also, it doesn't matter in English if the item that we put here, if... especially if we're talking about a person - is male or female. So, I could say: "My husband", or somebody could say: "My wife". Right? Or: "My son", "my daughter", and it doesn't matter. Again, this word doesn't change based on if it's singular or plural, or if it's male or female. Okay? So, that's one easy part about English. Sometimes easy. Sometimes English is actually easier in some ways than some other languages. Okay? Now, what's the other equivalent of this? The possessive pronouns, which we use mostly at the end of sentences. Right? For example, if somebody says: "Whose...? Whose cellphone is this?" […]
