His, Her, Their: его́, её, их | Russian Grammar

After the headache of declining мой, твой, наш and ваш, the third-person possessives feel like a gift: его́ ("his" / "its"), её ("her") and их ("their") never change. They do not agree in gender, number or case — you write the same three letters whatever follows. The reason is historical and useful to know: these are not really possessive adjectives at all, but frozen genitive forms of the personal pronouns он, она́, они́ ("of him", "of her", "of them"). Russian simply parks the genitive pronoun in front of the noun and leaves it there. This page shows how they work, why they refuse to decline, and the two traps English speakers fall into.

They are frozen — no agreement, no declension

Compare the agreeing мой, which morphs through four forms (мой / моя́ / моё / мои́), with его́, which sits there unmoved no matter what noun it modifies:

	masc. (брат)	fem. (сестра́)	neuter (письмо́)	plural (кни́ги)
my (agrees)	мой брат	моя́ сестра́	моё письмо́	мои́ кни́ги
his (frozen)	его́ брат	его́ сестра́	его́ письмо́	его́ кни́ги
her (frozen)	её брат	её сестра́	её письмо́	её кни́ги
their (frozen)	их брат	их сестра́	их письмо́	их кни́ги

And crucially, they also stay frozen when the whole noun phrase changes case. Where мой becomes о моём, его́ just stays его́:

Case of the phrase	"my book"	"his book"
Nom.	моя́ кни́га	его́ кни́га
Gen.	мое́й кни́ги	его́ кни́ги
Dat.	мое́й кни́ге	его́ кни́ге
Prep.	о мое́й кни́ге	о его́ кни́ге

The noun кни́га still declines normally — only the possessor word его́ stays put.

Я прочита́л его́ письмо́ и позвони́л его́ сестре́.

I read his letter and called his sister. (его́ unchanged before neuter письмо́ and before dative сестре́)

Мне о́чень нра́вится её но́вая причёска.

I really like her new haircut. (её unchanged before fem. причёска — the nominative subject of нра́вится, with мне the dative experiencer)

Их де́ти учи́лись в одно́й шко́ле с мои́ми.

Their kids went to the same school as mine. (их frozen, but мои́ми agrees and declines into the instrumental)

💡

The mental rule is simple: его́, её, их = three fixed words. Whatever noun comes after — any gender, any number, any case — you write exactly его́, её or их. They are the only possessives in Russian you never have to think about declining.

Why they don't decline: they're already genitive

These words are the genitive of the personal pronouns. Его́ literally means "of him", её "of her", их "of them" — and a genitive is how Russian normally says "X's". Saying его́ кни́га is structurally like saying "the book of him". Because the word is already locked into the genitive, it has nowhere further to go; it can't take a second case ending on top. That is exactly why it never agrees with the following noun the way a true adjective would.

Э́то маши́на отца́, а э́то — его́.

This is dad's car, and this one is his. (his = genitive 'of him', standing alone just like the noun-genitive отца́)

The trap: его́ ("his") vs. него́ (object pronoun)

Here is where English speakers — and even learners who know the rule — slip. Russian third-person pronouns add an initial н- after a preposition: the object pronoun "him" is его́ bare (Я ви́жу его́, "I see him") but него́ after a preposition (у него́, "at his place / he has").

The possessive его́ ("his") is immune to this. It never takes н-, because it is not the object of the preposition — the noun is. Compare:

У него́ есть соба́ка.

He has a dog. (object pronoun него́ — takes н- after the preposition у)

У его́ бра́та есть соба́ка.

His brother has a dog. (possessive его́ stays bare — the preposition у governs бра́та, not его́)

So both sentences open with у, but only the bare object pronoun gets the н-. If you see у него́ бра́та you have wrongly turned the possessive into an object pronoun. The test: is the third-person word possessing the next noun (→ bare его́/её/их) or is it itself the thing the preposition points at (→ него́/неё/них)?

Я был у неё в гостя́х и ви́дел её му́жа.

I was a guest at her place and met her husband. (object неё with н- after у; possessive её bare before му́жа)

Substandard *ихний — avoid it

You will hear native speakers, especially in casual or rural speech, say *и́хний instead of их (and sometimes *е́йный for её). These are (substandard / non-standard) forms — widely understood, sometimes used jokingly, but firmly outside educated standard Russian. In any written or formal context they read as an error. Use их. Recognise *и́хний so you understand it, but do not produce it.

❌ Мы бы́ли в и́хнем до́ме.

Substandard — *и́хний is non-standard; the standard frozen possessive is их.

✅ Мы бы́ли в их до́ме.

We were at their house. (standard frozen их)

его́ vs. свой: "his" can mean someone else's

One more thing English does not distinguish. With a third-person subject, его́/её/их normally point to someone other than the subject, while the reflexive свой points back to the subject. So these two sentences mean different things:

Он лю́бит его́ жену́. — He loves his (= another man's) wife.
Он лю́бит свою́ жену́. — He loves his own wife.

English "his" covers both; Russian forces the choice. The full logic of свой has its own page, but you must know that choosing его́ where свой is needed can accidentally say something scandalous.

Он взял его́ зонт по оши́бке.

He took his (= someone else's) umbrella by mistake. (его́ points away from the subject)

Common Mistakes

❌ Я ви́жу его́ю сестру́.

Incorrect — learners try to 'decline' его́ to match the accusative сестру́. It never changes: just его́.

✅ Я ви́жу его́ сестру́.

I see his sister. (его́ frozen; only сестру́ takes the accusative)

❌ Мы говори́ли о его́й маши́не.

Incorrect — adding an ending to его́ to match the prepositional. The possessive stays его́; only маши́не declines.

✅ Мы говори́ли о его́ маши́не.

We talked about his car. (его́ frozen before prepositional маши́не)

❌ У него́ сестры́ есть кот.

Incorrect — this is a possessive ('his sister has'), so it must be bare его́; него́ would mean the preposition points at HIM, not his sister.

✅ У его́ сестры́ есть кот.

His sister has a cat. (bare possessive его́; у governs сестры́)

❌ Они́ потеря́ли и́хние биле́ты.

Incorrect — *и́хний is substandard; the standard frozen possessive is их.

✅ Они́ потеря́ли свои́ биле́ты.

They lost their (own) tickets. (свои́, because the possessor is the subject they themselves)

Key Takeaways

его́ (his/its), её (her), их (their) are frozen — they never decline and never agree. One spelling, every gender, every number, every case.
They are genitive forms of он, она́, они́ ("of him/her/them"), which is why they can't take a further ending.
After a preposition the object pronoun adds н- (у него́, у неё, у них), but the possessive stays bare (у его́ бра́та, у её сестры́).
*и́хний (and е́йный) are *substandard — recognise them, but always write их.
With a third-person subject, его́/её/их usually mean someone else's; for the subject's own thing use свой.
Contrast the agreeing мой/твой/наш/ваш, which do everything его́/её/их refuse to do.

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