Translate to German:
a family
eine Familie
family = Familie
Translate to German:
my family
meine Familie
“my” = meine
In German, meine is used for “my” when referring to feminine nouns like Familie.
While English possessive pronouns are invariable, German pronouns must be declined by adding the correct ending. As follows: The first column is for the masculine der and neuter das articles, and the second column is for the feminine die and plural die articles.
Possessive Pronouns
- mein / meine - (“my”)
- dein / deine - (“your”)
- sein / seine - (“his”)
- ihr / ihre - (“her”)
- sein / seine (“its”)
- unser / unsere - (“our”)
- euer / eure - (“your plural”)
- ihr / ihre - (“their”)
- Ihr / Ihre - (“your formal”)
Translate to German:
my friend
mein Freund
friend = Freund
Freund can mean both “friend” and “boyfriend”, so context is important to understand the relationship.
Translate to German:
my girlfriend
meine Freundin
girlfriend = Freundin
Freundin can mean both “girlfriend” and “female friend”, so context is important to understand the relationship.
Translate to German:
my boyfriend
mein Freund
boyfriend = Freund
Mein Freund can mean “my boyfriend” or “my male friend”, so context is important to understand the intended meaning.
Note that the possessive pronoun mein takes the zero ending (no suffix) when it describes a masculine noun (like Freund) that is the subject of the sentence.
Translate to German:
your family
deine Familie
your = deine
The form deine is the informal way to say “your” when speaking to someone you know well. Note that the possessive pronoun takes the -e ending (deine) because the possessed noun, die Familie (“the family”), is feminine.
Possessive Pronouns
- mein / meine - (“my”)
- dein / deine - (“your”)
- sein / seine - (“his”)
- ihr / ihre - (“her”)
- sein / seine (“its”)
- unser / unsere - (“our”)
- euer / eure - (“your plural”)
- ihr / ihre - (“their”)
- Ihr / Ihre - (“your formal”)
Translate to German:
my father / my dad
mein Vater / mein Papa
“father” = Vater
“dad” = Papa
Vater is the standard, more formal German word for “father”. Papa is the affectionate, colloquial term, often used by children and adults alike (similar to “dad”).
Translate to German:
your mother / your mom
deine Mutter / deine Mama
“mother” = Mutter
“mom” = Mama
Mutter is the standard, more formal German word for “mother”. Mama is the affectionate, colloquial term, often used by children and adults alike (similar to “mom” or “mum”).
Translate to German:
my parents
meine Eltern
“Parents” = Eltern
Eltern means “parents” and is always plural. The possessive pronoun mein (“my”) adds an -e ending to become meine in order to agree with all plural nouns.
Translate to German:
Carl’s family is very big.
Carls Familie ist sehr groß.
In German, possession is often shown by adding an -s to the name, similar to English, but without an apostrophe.
Translate to German:
Is his family big?
Ist seine Familie groß?
“his” = seine
The possessive pronoun for “he” is sein (“his”). Possessive pronouns take the ending -e (seine) when used before a feminine noun like Familie.
Possessive Pronouns
- mein / meine - (“my”)
- dein / deine - (“your”)
- sein / seine - (“his”)
- ihr / ihre - (“her”)
- sein / seine (“its”)
- unser / unsere - (“our”)
- euer / eure - (“your plural”)
- ihr / ihre - (“their”)
- Ihr / Ihre - (“your formal”)
Translate to German:
His parents are from Germany.
Seine Eltern sind aus Deutschland.
“his” = seine
The possessive pronoun for “he” is sein (“his”). Possessive pronouns add the ending -e (becoming seine) when used before a plural noun like Eltern.
Possessive Pronouns
- mein / meine - (“my”)
- dein / deine - (“your”)
- sein / seine - (“his”)
- ihr / ihre - (“her”)
- sein / seine (“its”)
- unser / unsere - (“our”)
- euer / eure - (“your plural”)
- ihr / ihre - (“their”)
- Ihr / Ihre - (“your formal”)
Translate to German:
Who are your parents?
Wer sind deine Eltern?
your = deine
The possessive pronoun for “you” (informal singular) is dein (“your”). All possessive pronouns add the ending -e (becoming deine) when used before a plural noun (like Eltern).
Possessive Pronouns
- mein / meine - (“my”)
- dein / deine - (“your”)
- sein / seine - (“his”)
- ihr / ihre - (“her”)
- sein / seine (“its”)
- unser / unsere - (“our”)
- euer / eure - (“your plural”)
- ihr / ihre - (“their”)
- Ihr / Ihre - (“your formal”)
Translate to German:
Our mom is from Germany.
Unsere Mama kommt aus Deutschland.
our = unsere
The possessive pronoun for “we” is unser (“our”) in its base form. All possessive pronouns add the ending -e (becoming unsere) when used with feminine and plural nouns (like Mama).
Possessive Pronouns
- mein / meine - (“my”)
- dein / deine - (“your”)
- sein / seine - (“his”)
- ihr / ihre - (“her”)
- sein / seine (“its”)
- unser / unsere - (“our”)
- euer / eure - (“your plural”)
- ihr / ihre - (“their”)
- Ihr / Ihre - (“your formal”)
Translate to German:
Are your parents German?
Sind eure Eltern Deutsche?
your = eure
eure is the informal possessive pronoun used when the owners are a group (“you all”). The base form is euer. Since Eltern is a plural noun, the pronoun must add the -e ending.
Note that euer drops the second ‘e’ to avoid repetition when adding this ending (euer-e to eure).
Possessive Pronouns
- mein / meine - (“my”)
- dein / deine - (“your”)
- sein / seine - (“his”)
- ihr / ihre - (“her”)
- sein / seine (“its”)
- unser / unsere - (“our”)
- euer / eure - (“your plural”)
- ihr / ihre - (“their”)
- Ihr / Ihre - (“your formal”)
Translate to German:
Is this your brother, sir?
Ist das Ihr Bruder, Herr Müller?
your = Ihr
Ihr is the formal possessive pronoun used for “your” typically used in polite or formal situations. It is always capitalized.
Possessive Pronouns
- mein / meine - (“my”)
- dein / deine - (“your”)
- sein / seine - (“his”)
- ihr / ihre - (“her”)
- sein / seine (“its”)
- unser / unsere - (“our”)
- euer / eure - (“your plural”)
- ihr / ihre - (“their”)
- Ihr / Ihre - (“your formal”)
Translate to German:
Her sister is good-looking.
Ihre Schwester ist hübsch.
her = ihre
The possessive pronoun for “she” is ihr (“her”) in its base form. It takes the -e ending (ihre) because die Schwester (“the sister”) is a feminine noun. This ending is also used before plural nouns.
Note that the form ihre is identical to the possessive for “their” (ihre) and formal “Your” (Ihre). You must rely on context to determine the meaning.
Possessive Pronouns
- mein / meine - (“my”)
- dein / deine - (“your”)
- sein / seine - (“his”)
- ihr / ihre - (“her”)
- sein / seine (“its”)
- unser / unsere - (“our”)
- euer / eure - (“your plural”)
- ihr / ihre - (“their”)
- Ihr / Ihre - (“your formal”)
Translate to German:
We’re siblings.
Wir sind Geschwister.
siblings = Geschwister
Geschwister is a gender-neutral term meaning “siblings”, and it doesn’t specify the number of siblings like “brother” or “sister” would.
This noun is always used in the plural, so it always requires a plural verb (e.g., sind).
Translate to German:
Who is his wife?
Wer ist seine Frau?
wife = Frau
Frau can mean both “woman” and “wife”, depending on the context.
When used with a possessive pronoun (like seine) it usually means “wife”.
Translate to German:
Her husband is from Germany.
Ihr Mann ist aus Deutschland.
husband = Mann
Mann can mean both “man” or “husband”, depending on the context.
When used with a possessive pronoun (like ihr) it usually means “husband”.
Translate to German:
He’s Sherri’s son.
Er ist Sherris Sohn.
son = Sohn
In German, possessive forms like Sherris don’t use an apostrophe before the s, unlike in English. (This rule applies to all proper names, unless the name ends in s, ss, z, tz, or x).
Translate to German:
Are you Pat’s daughter?
Bist du Pats Tochter?
daughter = Tochter
Translate to German:
my kids
meine Kinder
Kinder is the plural word for “children” or “kids”, and refers to a mixed group of “sons” and “daughters”.
Remember to add the -e ending to the possessive pronoun mein (meine) when referring to plural nouns (Kinder).
Translate to German:
Love ya, buddy
Ich hab dich lieb, Kumpel
“Love ya”= Ich hab dich lieb
Ich hab dich lieb literally means “I have you dear” and it expresses affection, but in a softer way than Ich liebe dich.
You can say it to friends, family, or even your Kumpel (“buddy”) - it’s caring, not romantic.
Hab is a common contraction of habe (“I have”).
