Possessive Pronouns in Russian

Overview

Russian possessive pronouns indicate ownership or belonging and must agree with the noun they modify in gender, number, and case. At the A1 level, learning the nominative forms is the priority, as possessives appear in nearly every conversation about family, belongings, and daily life.

There are two types of possessive pronouns in Russian: those that change form (мой, твой, наш, ваш) and those that are invariable (его, её, их). The changing group agrees with the possessed noun, while the invariable group always stays the same regardless of the noun's gender, number, or case.

This distinction is important and can confuse learners: мой changes to моя, моё, мои depending on the noun, but его (his) never changes, no matter what follows it. Understanding this split early prevents systematic errors.

How It Works

Possessive Pronouns in Nominative Case

Person	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
my	мой	моя	моё	мои
your (informal)	твой	твоя	твоё	твои
his	его	его	его	его
her	её	её	её	её
our	наш	наша	наше	наши
your (formal/pl)	ваш	ваша	ваше	ваши
their	их	их	их	их

Key Rules

1. Agreement with the noun: мой agrees with the possessed item, not the possessor: мой дом (my house, m), моя книга (my book, f).
2. Invariable forms: его (his), её (her), их (their) never change, regardless of the noun: его дом, его книга, его окно.
3. Свой: Russian has a reflexive possessive свой (one's own) that refers back to the subject. It follows the same pattern as мой.

Examples in Context

Russian	English	Note
Это мой дом.	This is my house.	Masculine noun
Где твоя сестра?	Where is your sister?	Feminine noun
Его книга здесь.	His book is here.	Invariable его
Наши друзья приехали.	Our friends have arrived.	Plural noun
Это ваше решение.	This is your decision.	Neuter noun, formal
Её машина новая.	Her car is new.	Invariable её
Их дети в школе.	Their children are at school.	Invariable их
Моё окно большое.	My window is big.	Neuter noun
Это наша собака.	This is our dog.	Feminine noun
Твои родители здесь?	Are your parents here?	Plural noun

Common Mistakes

Making его/её/их agree with the noun

• Wrong: ева книга or еёя книга
• Right: его книга, её книга, их книга -- always the same form
• Why: These three possessives are frozen forms and never change.

Confusing possessive её with pronoun её

• Wrong: Mixing up "her" (possessive) and "her" (accusative pronoun)
• Right: Её книга (her book, possessive) vs. Я вижу её (I see her, pronoun)
• Why: Context distinguishes them -- before a noun it is possessive, after a verb it is a pronoun.

Using мой instead of свой

• Wrong: Он читает мою книгу. (when meaning his own book)
• Right: Он читает свою книгу. (his own book)
• Why: When the possessor is the subject, Russian prefers свой over the specific possessive.

Practice Tips

• Describe your belongings and those of people around you: Это мой телефон, это её сумка, это наш дом.
• Practice swapping nouns of different genders with the same possessive to build agreement reflexes: мой стол, моя книга, моё окно, мои друзья.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Noun Gender -- gender determines which possessive form to use