How are Russian possessives used? – Mango Languages (2024)

Words like “my,” “your,” and “ours” are called possessives because they are added to a sentence to show ownership of something. They are some of the most frequent words in both Russian and English, and are probably as old as the concept of private property itself. In Russian, some possessives change form to blend in with the surrounding context and some do not. Let’s see how they work!

Examples:

• Это ваше мороженое? (Eta VAshe maROzhenaye) neuter singular

Is this your ice cream?

• Ваша фамилия? (VAsha famEEliya) feminine singular

Your last name?

• Ваш паспорт готов. (vash PASpart gaTOF) masculine singular

Your passport is ready.

• Это его вещи, а это – ваши. (Eta yeVO VEshchi a Eta VAshee)

These are his things, and those are yours.

While having some words that (at last!) do not change their forms, Russians still came up with substandard alternatives for these words that do change their endings depending on gender, number, and case. They are used in colloquial speech:

• Евонный (yeVOnnyy) instead of его (yeVO) his/its
• Ейный (YEYnyy) instead of её (yeYO) her/hers/its
• Ихний (EEKHnyy) instead of их (eekh) their/theirs

As I mentioned before, in Russian, possessives are used to show what belongs to whom and, like in English, they normally go before the noun and show who the owner of it is.

• Его документы находятся в моём портфеле.

(yeVO dakuMENty naKHOdyatsya v maYOM partFYElye)

His documents are in my briefcase.

• Наши дети играют с вашей собакой.

(NAshi DYEti igRAyut s Vashey saBAkoy)

Our children are playing with your dog.

• Моя мама переехала в ваш город.

(maYA Mama pyeryeYEkhala v vash GOrad)

My mother moved to your city.

In Russian you constantly need tothink aheadas the gender, number, and case of the possessive adjectives normally depend on the wordafterthem.

Masculine Feminine
Singular Singular
Nominative Nominative

• Имойбрат, имоясестраживут в Москве.

• (I moy brat i moYA sestRA zhiVOOT v maskVE)
  Bothmybrotherandmysisterlive in Moscow.

• Умоихродителейнет машины.(Genitive plural)
  (oo maEEKH raDEEtyelyey nyet maSHEEny)
  Myparentsdo not have a car.

• Моюквартирунужно ремонтировать.(Accusative singular feminine)
  (maYU kvarTEEru NOOZHna ryemanTEErovat)
  Myapartmentneeds to be renovated.

• Моегокотазовут Барсик.(Accusative singular masculine animate)
  (mayeVO kaTA zaVUT BARsik)
  Mycat’s name is Barsik.

Let’s clarify: the form of the possessivedoes notdepend on the gender/number of the owner, but rather on the gender/number/case of the object in the owner’s possession.
In the first example above, we would say мой брат [my brother]. However, we would say моя сестра [my sister] regardless of the gender of the speaker, because what really matters is the grammar of the nouns that are modified.

You might wonder why мой is translated as both “my” and “mine,” as those two words function quite differently in English and are not interchangeable. Words like “my” are called “possessive adjectives” and are always followed by a noun, while words like “mine” are called “possessive pronouns” and are used without a noun.

The answer is simply that in Russian, there is no difference in the form between “my” and “mine,” “your” and “yours,” etc. But you still need to keep in mind the forms the possessives may take depending on what they agree with or refer to (i.e., changes in gender, number, and case), regardless of whether you mean “my” or “mine.”

1. There are a few cases when possessives are not followed by a noun:

• When a noun is implied from the context: in this case in English you would probably use possessive pronouns like “mine” which is also not followed by a noun:

  • Наши вещи были упакованы, а их – нет.

(NAshi VYEshchi BYli upaKOvany a eekh nyet)

Our things have been packed, and theirs have not.

• When talking about unknown/unnamed objects, use the singular neuter form:

  • Чьё это? – Это моё!

(chyo Eta? – Eta maYO)

Whose is this? – It’s mine!

2. Also, there are instances when possessives come after nouns they modify:

• In certain poetic/religious contexts:

  • Сын мой!

(syn moy)

My son! (a priest addressing a male parishioner)

• O, сад мой милый!

(o sat moy MEElyy)

Oh, my dear garden!

• In certain phrases:

  • Боже мой!

(BOzhe moy)

My God!

• Твой is used when referring to a singular person.

  • Где ты, и где твоя машина?

(gdye ty i gdye tvaYA maSHEEna)

Where are you, and where is your car? (about one person)

• Ваш is used when the possessor is a group of people. It is spelled with a lowercase letter in this case.

  • Уважаемые посетители, предъявите ваши документы.

(oovaZHAyemyye pasyeTEEtyeli pryedyaVEEtye VAshi dakooMYENty)

Dear visitors, please show your IDs.

• Ваш is also used when the possessor is an individual in highly formal contexts. In this case, it is spelled with a capital letter.

• В ответ на Ваш запрос ….

(V atVYET na vash zapROS)

In response to Your inquiry…

• Район был безопасным, его жители даже не запирали двери.

⤷ (masculine)

(raYON byl byezaPASnym yeVO ZHEEtyeli DAzhe nye zapiRAli DVYEri)

The district was safe, its residents did not even lock the doors.

• Москва – гигантский мегаполис, её жители часто жалуются на пробки.

⤷ (feminine)

(maskVA giGANskiy myegaPOlis yeYO ZHEEtyeli CHASta ZHAluyutsya na PROBki)

Moscow is a gigantic megapolis, its residents often complain about traffic jams.

In this post we discussed the possessive words in Russian. In particular, we saw that the possessive words:

• change forms depending on the role the noun they go with plays in the sentence
• agree with the possession
• are both adjectives and pronouns
• have formal and informal forms
• “its” is not only neuter

Ready for the next step? Try practicing Russian possessive words!

Gender represents categories in which nouns are split. In Russian, there are three: masculine, feminine, and neuter.

март (m.) March

книга (f.) book

кафе (n.) café

Number represents the quantity the noun refers to, meaning if it is singular or plural.

the boy (s.) the boys (pl.)

Case is the form of a noun (and the adjective etc. that modifies it) or of a pronoun that shows the role it plays in the sentence.

For example, the accusative case indicates that the noun or the pronoun are the object (= receiver of the action) of the verb:

I saw him

(“him” is in the accusative case; it is the object of the sentence)

Nominative case indicates that the noun/pronoun is the subject (=what/who does the action):

He saw me

(“he” is in the nominative case; it is the subject of the sentence)

There are six cases in Russian – nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental, and prepositional.