Questions & Answers about Él tiene mi mochila.
Does mi change if the word is masculine or feminine?
No. Unlike some Spanish words, the possessive adjective mi is gender-neutral. You use mi for both a feminine noun like mi mochila and a masculine noun like mi libro. It only changes to mis if the object is plural, like mis mochilas.
Why does Él have an accent mark?
The accent mark shows the difference between él meaning he, and el meaning the. Without the accent, it would be the word used in phrases like el perro (the dog).
Is it okay to drop the word Él and just say Tiene mi mochila?
Yes, dropping the subject pronoun is completely normal in Spanish. However, since the verb tiene can mean he has, she has, or you have (formal), using Él here avoids any confusion about exactly who has the backpack.
Why is the verb tiene instead of something like tene?
The dictionary form of the verb to have is tener. It is a stem-changing verb, which is a type of irregular verb where the middle vowel changes. When talking about he, she, or you (formal), the e in tener changes to ie, giving us tiene.
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