There are two jobs a possessive can do. As a determiner, it sits in front of a noun: mein Auto ("my car"). As a pronoun, it stands alone and replaces the noun entirely: Das ist meins ("That's mine"). English marks this with a separate set of words — my becomes mine, your becomes yours, her becomes hers. German does it differently: it keeps the same stem (mein-, dein-, sein-…) but switches to a stronger set of endings, because once the noun disappears, the possessive itself has to broadcast the gender and case that the noun would otherwise have shown.
Why the endings change
Recall that as a determiner, a possessive is an ein-word with three bare spots — masculine nominative, neuter nominative, neuter accusative — where it shows no ending at all (mein Vater, mein Buch). Those bare spots work because the noun is right there to anchor the phrase.
Pull the noun out and the bare form has nothing to lean on. Das ist mein leaves the listener asking "my what?" So in standalone position the possessive fills its empty cells with the strong endings — the same endings the definite article der/die/das carries (-er, -e, -es, -en, -em, -er). The possessive now does the case-marking work the article would have done.
Ist das dein Buch? — Ja, das ist meins.
Is that your book? — Yes, that's mine.
As a determiner, dein Buch and mein Buch are bare (neuter). But standing alone, meins fills the gap with a strong -s ending. Mein alone would be wrong — it can't float without a noun.
Mein Auto ist alt, deins ist neu.
My car is old, yours is new.
Mein Auto (determiner, bare neuter) → deins (pronoun, strong). The pronoun is now carrying the neuter that Auto used to show.
The forms
Here is the full standalone paradigm for mein- ("mine"). Every other possessive (deiner, seiner, ihrer, unserer, eurer, Ihrer) follows the identical pattern — swap the stem, keep these strong endings.
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | meiner | meine | mein(e)s | meine |
| Accusative | meinen | meine | mein(e)s | meine |
| Dative | meinem | meiner | meinem | meinen |
| Genitive | meines | meiner | meines | meiner |
Compare this grid with the determiner grid on the possessive determiners page. They are identical except in the three spots that used to be bare:
| Spot | As determiner (before noun) | As pronoun (alone) |
|---|---|---|
| masc. nom. | mein Bruder | meiner |
| neut. nom. | mein Auto | mein(e)s |
| neut. acc. | mein Auto | mein(e)s |
Everywhere else — feminine, plural, all the datives and genitives — the forms already showed their endings as determiners, so nothing changes when they go solo.
Dein Bruder ist Arzt, und meiner ist Lehrer.
Your brother is a doctor, and mine is a teacher.
Masculine nominative: the determiner mein Bruder is bare, but the pronoun meiner takes strong -er — the same -er that der carries.
The colloquial -s form: meins, deins, seins
The neuter form has two shapes. The fuller meines / deines / seines sounds careful and is what you'll see in formal writing. In everyday speech, Germans clip the unstressed -e- and say meins, deins, seins, ihrs, unsers, eures.
| Stem | Fuller (formal/written) | Clipped (everyday speech) |
|---|---|---|
| mein- | meines | meins |
| dein- | deines | deins |
| sein- | seines | seins |
| ihr- | ihres | ihrs |
Wem gehört die Jacke? — Das ist meine.
Whose jacket is this? — That's mine.
Wessen Handy klingelt? — Oh, das ist meins!
Whose phone is ringing? — Oh, that's mine!
Jacke is feminine → meine (unchanged from the determiner). Handy is neuter → the clipped meins in speech. Both are completely natural; the -s clip is simply the spoken default.
Nimm nicht seinen Stift, das ist deiner.
Don't take his pen, that's yours.
Masculine: Stift is masculine, so the standalone form is deiner with strong -er.
Comparing possessions across cases
Because pronouns carry full case, they slot into any slot a real noun would — including after dative verbs and prepositions.
Mit meinem Wagen komme ich nicht, fahren wir mit deinem?
I can't come in my car — shall we take yours?
After mit (dative), the neuter pronoun is deinem, identical to the determiner form because the dative was never a bare spot.
Ihre Kinder sind schon erwachsen, unsere noch klein.
Her children are already grown up, ours still little.
Plural nominative: unsere stands alone for "ours," unchanged from the determiner.
Das ist nicht mein Problem, das ist deins.
That's not my problem, that's yours.
A very common spoken pattern: contrast a determiner phrase (mein Problem) with a standalone pronoun (deins).
A note on the elevated form
There is a more formal, somewhat literary standalone set built with the definite article: der meine, die meine, das meine ("mine"), and the substantivized der Meinige / die Meinige / das Meinige. You will meet these in older literature and elevated prose, but they sound stilted in conversation — modern speech uses meiner / meine / meins.
Dieses Haus und alles, was darin ist, ist das meine.
This house and everything in it is mine. (literary/formal)
Common Mistakes
❌ Ist das dein Buch? — Ja, das ist mein.
Incorrect — the bare determiner form can't stand alone.
✅ Ist das dein Buch? — Ja, das ist meins.
Is that your book? — Yes, that's mine.
English mine has a distinct form, so learners expect German to just leave mein as is. But mein is the bare determiner; standing alone it must take a strong ending — neuter meins.
❌ Mein Auto ist alt, dein ist neu.
Incorrect — a standalone neuter pronoun needs the -s.
✅ Mein Auto ist alt, deins ist neu.
My car is old, yours is new.
Once Auto is dropped, the second possessive has to carry the neuter itself: deins (or fuller deines), never bare dein.
❌ Dein Bruder ist groß, und mein ist klein.
Incorrect — masculine standalone takes strong -er.
✅ Dein Bruder ist groß, und meiner ist klein.
Your brother is tall, and mine is short.
The bare masculine mein becomes meiner when alone — the strong -er of der.
❌ Das ist die Tasche von mir.
Clumsy — German has a one-word possessive pronoun.
✅ Das ist meine.
That's mine.
Die Tasche von mir is understandable but heavy; where English says "mine," German prefers the clean pronoun meine. Reach for the von-paraphrase only when you genuinely need to stress the person.
❌ Wessen Stift ist das? — Es ist seins, der Stift ist neutral.
Incorrect — the pronoun must match the noun's gender (Stift is masculine).
✅ Wessen Stift ist das? — Es ist seiner.
Whose pen is that? — It's his.
The pronoun's ending reflects the gender of the replaced noun. Stift is masculine, so even when answering "his," you say seiner, not the neuter seins.
Key Takeaways
- Possessive determiners sit before a noun and can be bare; possessive pronouns stand alone and take strong der-word endings in those formerly-bare spots.
- The neuter pronoun has a fuller form (meines) and a clipped everyday form (meins) — the clip is the spoken default.
- The pronoun's ending shows the gender and case of the replaced noun: seiner for a masculine noun, seins for a neuter one, seine for a feminine one.
- der meine / das Meinige exist but are literary; use meiner / meine / meins in normal speech.
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Start learning German→Related Topics
- Possessive Determiners (mein, dein, sein, ihr...)A1 — The possessive determiners are ein-words whose stem is chosen by the owner but whose ending agrees with the thing owned — two independent agreements English never makes.
- Strong Adjective Declension (no article)B1 — The strong endings used when no article precedes: the adjective itself carries the full case marking, mirroring the der-word endings.
- Demonstrative Pronouns: der, die, das, dieserB1 — How der, die, das work as stressed demonstrative pronouns meaning 'that one' — including the special forms dessen, deren and denen — and how dieser points to 'this one'.