Nouns, articles & quantity · CEFR A1 · Starting
Possessives — English nouns and articles
Who it belongs to. Add ’s to a person.
The shape
noun's · my / your / his / her
Say whose something is.
In Hindi
किसकी चीज़ है। व्यक्ति के नाम के बाद ’s लगता है।
CoCap explains every structure in both languages, because a rule you understand in Hindi is a rule you can use in English.
The mistake to fix first
The sentence Indian-English speakers actually produce, and the reason it is wrong.
| Commonly said | Correct English |
|---|---|
This is the bag of Rahul. | This is Rahul's bag. For people, English uses ’s rather than "of". |
Possessives examples
Easiest first. Every sentence is authored, with the Hindi it comes from.
This book is mine.
यह किताब मेरी है।
That phone is yours.
वह फोन तुम्हारा है।
This bag is his.
यह बैग उसका है।
also correct: This bag is hers.
These shoes are mine.
ये जूते मेरे हैं।
That house is ours.
वह घर हमारा है।
This room is theirs.
यह कमरा उनका है।
Whose book is this?
यह किसकी किताब है?
Whose phone is this?
यह किसका फोन है?
Whose shoes are these?
ये किसके जूते हैं?
My phone is here.
मेरा फोन यहाँ है।
Easy to confuse with
Close enough to be mixed up with this one. Knowing the difference is most of knowing either.
- 's or of?B1Choose the natural way to show belonging
- Personal & possessiveA1Use the right word for the doer, the receiver and the owner
Questions people ask
- What is the possessives used for?
- Who it belongs to. Add ’s to a person. In practice: say whose something is.
- How do you form the possessives?
- noun's · my / your / his / her.
- What is the most common mistake with the possessives?
- Saying “This is the bag of Rahul.” instead of “This is Rahul's bag.”. For people, English uses ’s rather than "of".
Where possessives fits
Where this structure sits in the ladder, and what surrounds it.
Possessives is a CEFR A1 structure — the starting band — and it belongs to nouns, articles & quantity. CoCap’s syllabus files every structure this way so you can learn in order instead of jumping between whatever a search happened to return.
Reading it is not the same as saying it.
CoCap turns this page into practice: Hindi sentence in, English sentence out, corrected one thing at a time. Free, no card.
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