Pronouns · CEFR A1 · Starting
Personal & possessive — English pronouns
The doer, the receiver, and the owner are different words.
The shape
I / me / my / mine
Use the right word for the doer, the receiver and the owner.
In Hindi
करने वाला, पाने वाला और मालिक — तीनों के अलग शब्द हैं।
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 |
|---|---|
Me and my friend went. | My friend and I went. The doer takes "I", and you go second out of politeness. |
Personal & possessive examples
Easiest first. Every sentence is authored, with the Hindi it comes from.
I am a teacher.
मैं {शिक्षक|शिक्षिका} हूँ।
also correct: I'm a teacher.
You are my friend.
तुम मेरे दोस्त हो।
She is their daughter.
वह उनकी बेटी है।
This is his bicycle.
यह उसकी साइकिल है।
also correct: This is her bicycle.
That is our house.
वह हमारा घर है।
Where is your sister?
तुम्हारी बहन कहाँ है?
Where do you live?
आप कहाँ रहते हैं?
Our teacher is very good.
हमारे शिक्षक बहुत अच्छे हैं।
They are our neighbours.
वे हमारे पड़ोसी हैं।
We are in the same class.
हम एक ही कक्षा में हैं।
Easy to confuse with
Close enough to be mixed up with this one. Knowing the difference is most of knowing either.
Questions people ask
- What is the personal & possessive used for?
- The doer, the receiver, and the owner are different words. In practice: use the right word for the doer, the receiver and the owner.
- How do you form the personal & possessive?
- I / me / my / mine.
- What is the most common mistake with the personal & possessive?
- Saying “Me and my friend went.” instead of “My friend and I went.”. The doer takes "I", and you go second out of politeness.
Where personal & possessive fits
Where this structure sits in the ladder, and what surrounds it.
Personal & possessive is a CEFR A1 structure — the starting band — and it belongs to pronouns. 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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