Possessives

Form
Use
Common Expressions

Form

my, your, her, his, its, one's, our, their

Se refieren siempre a pronombres o nombres. Tienen que ir seguidos de un sustantivo.

Use

Los utilizamos para indicar la relación que existe entre alguien o algo y el sustantivo que sigue al posesivo:
Rose and Margaret feed their canaries every day.
Their nos indica que los canarios pertenecen a ambas y que ellas se encargan de alimentarlos a diario.
Most of the population of Madrid live in its suburbs.
Its en este caso se refiere a Madrid capital.
My se refiere a la persona que habla:
When I was at school my mates were all girls.
Our se refiere al que habla y al menos a otra persona más:
We haven't been on holiday for months, this is our chance.
Our también puede referirse a un grupo de personas a los que les une algún propósito o relación:
Our beaches are some of the cleanest in the European Union.
Your se refiere a algo relacionado a you y normalmente excluye al hablante. Puede referirse a una o a muchas personas:
Is this your sandwich?
You must hand in your assignments on Wednesday afternoon.
Her o his se refiere a una sola persona, (de género femenino, her, o masculino, his):
She is a writer. Her last book has become a best seller.
He went to the video club to return his film.
Their se refiere a más de una persona:
They spend their holidays at the seaside.
Its se refiere a animales, cosas, ideas o lugares.
The dog wagged its tail.
One's es un modo muy formal de decir his o her. No es muy usado en inglés moderno:
The most important thing in business is one's reputation for honesty.
Actualmente se diría:
The most important thing in business is a person's (or your) reputation for honesty.

Common Expressions

Take your pick.	You can take whatever you like from a selection or group of things. Elige el / la que quieras.
It's your turn to... It's my / her / our turn to...	We use this when two or more people are doing something one after the other. It is often used in games. Te toca; es tu turno. It's your turn to throw the dice. Te toca tirar.
Do something my / your / his / her way.	The person will decide how to do something for her / himself and does not want others to tell him / her what to do or how to do it. A: Let me help you. Permíteme que te ayude. B: Thanks, but I'd rather do it my way. Gracias, prefiero hacerlo a mi manera.
Mind your own business!	A rude way of telling someone not to interfere. ¡Métete en tus asuntos!

Adjectives :: Adverbs :: After, Before, When, While :: And, But :: Articles :: Because of / Because :: Comparisons :: Demonstratives :: Future :: Irregular verbs :: Modals :: Nouns :: Past Continuous :: Past Simple :: Possessives :: Prepositions :: Present Continuous :: Present Simple :: Pronouns :: Quantifiers :: Relative clauses :: Wh-Determiners