Breakdown of Gehört der Fernseher euch? Ja, das ist unserer.
sein
to be
ja
yes
euch
you (plural, informal)
gehören
to belong to
der Fernseher
the TV / the television
unserer
ours [pronoun, also: unseres, unsere]
Questions & Answers about Gehört der Fernseher euch? Ja, das ist unserer.
Why does the word for "ours" have an extra -er at the end (unserer)?
In this sentence, unserer stands alone and replaces the noun entirely ("ours"), rather than sitting next to a noun ("our TV"). Because it replaces der Fernseher, which is a masculine noun in the nominative case, it takes the masculine nominative ending -er. The base word is unser, so adding -er gives us unserer.
Why is euch used here instead of ihr for "you guys"?
The verb gehören (to belong to) always takes a dative object. The person who owns the item must be in the dative case. Therefore, the informal plural "you" (ihr) changes to its dative form, euch.
If der Fernseher is masculine, why does the answer start with das instead of er?
When making a general pointing statement like "That is..." or "This is...", German almost always uses the neutral pronoun das, regardless of the actual gender of the noun you are pointing at. You are simply saying "That (thing) is ours."
What if the question was about a neutral noun, like das Auto? How would the answer change?
If the noun were neutral, the standalone possessive pronoun would need the neutral nominative ending -s (or -es). The answer would become "Ja, das ist unsers" (or unseres).
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