Lesson 011

Russian possessive pronouns

In this lesson, we will learn Russian possessive pronouns.

A possessive pronoun is a pronoun that shows ownership.

In Russian, possessive pronouns depend on the gender and number of the subject you are talking about. They are:

My and mine:

мой [moî]masculine
моя́ [ma-yá]feminine
моё [ma-yó]neuter
мои́ [ma-ée]plural

Your and yours (singular and informal):

твой [tvoî]masculine
твоя́ [tva-yá]feminine
твоё [tva-yó]neuter
твои́ [tva-ée]plural

Russian Pod 101

His:

егó [ye-vó]for all

Her:

её [ye-yó]for all

Its:

егó [ye-vó]for all

Our and ours:

наш [nash]masculine
нáша [ná-sha]feminine
нáше [ná-she]neuter
нáши [ná-shee]plural

Your and yours (plural or formal):

ваш [vash]masculine
вáша [vá-sha]feminine
вáше [vá-she]neuter
вáши [vá-shee]plural

Their and theirs:

их [eeh]for all

blankblank

Examples

Let’s practice with some examples:

мой домmy house (house is masculine)
[moî dom]

твоя́ соба́каyour dog (dog is feminine)
[tva-yá sa-bá-ka]

его́ па́спортhis passport (passport is masculine)
[ye-vó pás-part]

на́ша шко́лаour school (school is feminine)
[ná-sha shkó-la]

Simple sentences

Now you can even compose some simple sentences in Russian:

Э́то моя́ ма́ма.
[é-ta ma-yá má-ma]
This is my mom.

Э́та кни́га моя́.
[é-ta kneé-ga ma-yá]
This book is mine.

Э́то наш дом.
[é-ta nash dom]
This is our house.

Э́тот телефо́н твой.
[é-tat tee-lee-fón tvoî]
This telephone is yours.

Э́то на́ши докуме́нты.
[é-ta ná-shee da-ku-myén-ty]
These are our documents.

Э́ти докуме́нты на́ши.
[é-tee da-ku-myén-ty ná-shee]
These documents are ours.

Те докуме́нты ва́ши.
[tye da-ku-myén-ty vá-shee]
Those documents are yours.

Та су́мка твоя́.
[ta súm-ka tva-yá]
That bag is yours.

Practice Russian possessive pronouns and examples of this lessons with the audio recording.

The offline version of this lesson is available here

Start the quiz
  • Question # 1
    Say it in Russian:
    my book (book is feminine)
    • моя́ кни́га
    • мой кни́га
    • твой неде́ля
    • моё неде́ля
    Answered: 0 out of 20
    Correct answers: 0 (0%)
    Next
  • Question # 2
    Say it in Russian:
    their houses
    • их дома́
    • на́ши дома́
    • них дома́
    • его́ дома́
    Answered: 0 out of 20
    Correct answers: 0 (0%)
    Next
  • Question # 3
    Translate to English:
    на́ше де́рево
    • your fish
    • our tree
    • his dog
    • her book
    Answered: 0 out of 20
    Correct answers: 0 (0%)
    Next
  • Question # 4
    Translate what you hear
    • your cup
    • his school
    • your school
    • his cup
    Answered: 0 out of 20
    Correct answers: 0 (0%)
    Next
  • Question # 5
    Translate what you hear
    • their passports
    • your passport
    • her passport
    • his passport
    Answered: 0 out of 20
    Correct answers: 0 (0%)
    Next
  • Question # 6
    Translate what you hear
    • my dog
    • your dog
    • my school
    • your school
    Answered: 0 out of 20
    Correct answers: 0 (0%)
    Next
  • Question # 7
    Say it in Russian:
    your students
    • твои студенты
    • ваши студенты
    • твои студенты or ваши студенты
    • наши студенты
    Answered: 0 out of 20
    Correct answers: 0 (0%)
    Next
  • Question # 8
    Translate what you hear
    • his phone
    • my phone
    • her phone
    • your phone
    Answered: 0 out of 20
    Correct answers: 0 (0%)
    Next
  • Question # 9
    Which option is incorrect?
    • э́то мой кни́га
    • э́та собака моя́
    • э́то собака
    • э́то её кни́га
    Answered: 0 out of 20
    Correct answers: 0 (0%)
    Next
  • Question # 10
    Say it in Russian:
    та чашка моя
    • that cup is mine
    • this cup is yours
    • that is your cup
    • this is my cup
    Answered: 0 out of 20
    Correct answers: 0 (0%)
    Next
  • Question # 11
    Say it in Russian:
    this is my car
    • э́то моя́ маши́на
    • э́то мой маши́на
    • э́та моя́ маши́на
    • э́та мои маши́на
    Answered: 0 out of 20
    Correct answers: 0 (0%)
    Next
  • Question # 12
    Translate to English:
    твой па́спорт здесь
    • your passport is there (informal)
    • your passport is here (informal)
    • your passport is there (formal)
    • your passport is here (formal)
    Answered: 0 out of 20
    Correct answers: 0 (0%)
    Next
  • Question # 13
    Say it in Russian:
    this is their dog
    • э́та их соба́ка
    • э́та ва́ша соба́ка
    • э́то их соба́ка
    • э́тот твой соба́ка
    Answered: 0 out of 20
    Correct answers: 0 (0%)
    Next
  • Question # 14
    Say it in Russian:
    this is her bag
    • э́та их су́мка
    • э́то его́ су́мка
    • э́то её су́мка
    • э́та ва́ша су́мка
    Answered: 0 out of 20
    Correct answers: 0 (0%)
    Next
  • Question # 15
    Say it in Russian:
    that house is yours (informal, plural)
    • тот дом ваш
    • те дома́ ва́ши
    • э́тот дом твои́
    • тот дом твой
    Answered: 0 out of 20
    Correct answers: 0 (0%)
    Next
  • Question # 16
    Say it in Russian:
    this bag is beautiful
    • э́то краси́вая су́мка
    • э́тот су́мка краси́вый
    • э́та су́мка краси́вая
    • та су́мка краси́вая
    Answered: 0 out of 20
    Correct answers: 0 (0%)
    Next
  • Question # 17
    Say it in Russian:
    this is a beautiful bag
    • э́то краси́вая су́мка
    • э́та краси́вая су́мка
    • та краси́вая су́мка
    • э́тот су́мка краси́вая
    Answered: 0 out of 20
    Correct answers: 0 (0%)
    Next
  • Question # 18
    Translate what you hear
    • this is his phone
    • that is her phone
    • this is their phone
    • that is your phone (formal)
    Answered: 0 out of 20
    Correct answers: 0 (0%)
    Next
  • Question # 19
    Say it in Russian:
    this is her mom
    • э́то его мама
    • э́то её мама
    • э́та её мама
    • э́та их мама
    Answered: 0 out of 20
    Correct answers: 0 (0%)
    Next
  • Question # 20
    Which option is correct?
    • э́ти дома́ мой
    • те дома́ на́ши
    • тот дома́ на́ши
    • её дома́ э́то
    Answered: 0 out of 20
    Correct answers: 0 (0%)
Support Us

13 comments on “011 – Russian possessive pronouns”

  1. Richard Parker says:

    Здравствуйте.
    Question 15.
    Say it in Russian:
    that house is yours (informal, plural)
    Please explain why «тот дом ваш» is given as the correct answer?
    Why is «тот дом твой» incorrect?
    The question asks for ‘informal, plural’
    I thought that ‘твой’ is informal, and ‘ваш’ is formal.
    I would much appreciate your explanation.
    Thank you for so many excellent lessons.
    Greetings from Canada!

    1. Learn Russian Step by Step says:

      Hi Richard,

      Thanks for your question.

      Твой is singular. Informal plural form in this case is ваш (which is a formal form at the same time).

      This logic starts with personal pronouns and goes throughout all of them. Please refer to this lesson: https://learnrussianstepbystep.com/en/russian-personal-pronouns/

  2. Alek says:

    Why is the “г” in его pronounced more like “в”?

    1. Learn Russian Step by Step says:

      Hello Alek,

      Его follows the same pronunciation rules as if it was an ending. Endings -ОГО and -ЕГО become -ОВО and -ЕВО respectively.

      Please have a look here for more information: https://learnrussianstepbystep.com/en/russian-pronunciation/

  3. Jordan says:

    Hi there, I have a question about agreement between words that are ALWAYS plural. My understanding is that adjectives and nouns and pronouns have to agree in number and case? But what if I wanted to say …”This Elite (figurative) Night” эти сливки (ночь works or the noun has to agree with the always plural cream as in ночи)?

    1. Learn Russian Step by Step says:

      Hello Jordan,

      Sorry for the late reply.

      I must say I don’t understand the phrase you give as an example. We don’t say neither “эти сливки ночь” nor “эти сливки ночи”. I think the word “сливки”, while sometimes used to describe the elite as a part of the society, is not the right word to use when it comes to talking about the nights.

      Even in English, the phrase “This Elite Night” does not make sense to me. If you can give a context, I would probably be able to answer your question.

  4. Sol says:

    I just paid for “Download All Audio Files”. How do I download? Thank you.

    1. Learn Russian Step by Step says:

      Hello Sol,

      The download link was sent to your email. Please check your spam folder if you didn’t see it. If you didn’t receive it at all, please contact us via everydayrussian at gmail dot com, so we can reply to you by email. Thank you.

  5. Peps says:

    Hi ! First thank you for what you do.
    I have a question : sometimes we pronounce the O like a A, if it is unstressed, and sometimes not, like in the word “мой”. Why ?
    Perhaps you should warn us when there is an inconsistency, because it makes me/us confused.
    Thank you very much !

    1. Learn Russian Step by Step says:

      Hi Peps,

      Thank you for your comment.

      In the words that consist from only one syllable. i.e. have only 1 vowel, the stress mark falls on that vowel by default. Therefore in such words like “мой” the vowel is considered to be stressed and pronounced as O.

  6. Krishnaprasanna says:

    Nice but the audio track is not responding after 2:19 seconds.Please rectify this error.

    1. Krishnaprasanna says:

      Sorry,Now it’s working.A small error in my system stopped it to play this track.I’m very thankful to the owner of this site for providing this language tutor at free of cost,I’m saying thanks once again why because the lessons are divided in such a manner so that a beginner may not feel any difficulty while learning.Even though there are many free language tutors in the Internet but I did’nt find such a kind of this awesome site at anywhere.

      1. Learn Russian Step by Step says:

        Hello Krishnaprasanna,

        I’m glad everything is working for you. Thanks for your comment. Good luck.

Your feedback and questions

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Share on