Possessive Pronouns

Question 1

मेरा meraa

Answer 1

my (singular masculine noun)

Question 2

हमारा hamaaraa

Answer 2

our (singular masculine noun)

Question 3

तेरा teraa

Answer 3

your [intimate] (singular masculine noun)

Question 4

तुम्हारा tumhaaraa

Answer 4

your [informal/casual]
(singular masculine noun)

Question 5

आपका aapkaa

Answer 5

your [formal]
(singular masculine noun)

Question 6

इसका iskaa

Answer 6

His / Her / Its (Near)
(singular masculine noun)

Question 7

उसका uskaa

Answer 7

His / Her / Its (Far)
(singular masculine noun)

Question 8

इनका inkaa

Answer 8

Their (Near)
or His / Her (Formal - Near)
(singular masculine noun)

Question 9

उनका unkaa

Answer 9

Their (Far)
or His / Her (Formal - Far)
(singular masculine noun)

Question 10

Possessive Pronouns and Noun Gender

Answer 10

Possessive Pronouns must agree with the Gender of thing they are ‘possessing’!

Question 11

How to make all the possessive pronouns we learned for singular masculine nouns work for PLURAL masculine nouns?

Answer 11

We drop the आ -aa from the end of the POSSESSIVE PRONOUN and add ए -e.

Question 12

What are the possessive pronouns for singular and plural feminine nouns?

Answer 12

For both the singular AND the plural feminine nouns, we take the possessive pronouns we learned for the singular masculine nouns, drop the आ -aa from the end and add ई-ee.

Question 13

का kaa

Answer 13

of/’s
(It’s used to show ownership)
का kaa is a Postposition, so the noun before it must be changed into it’s postposition before का kaa can be added. If what is being owned/possessed is Masculine Plural, का kaa changes to के ke. If what is being owned/possessed is Feminine, का kaa changes to की kee. Remember that it changes depending on what’s owned and not on who is ‘doing the owning’!

Question 14

अपना apnaa - singular masculine
अपने apne - plural masculine
अपनी apnee - feminine singular and plural.

Answer 14

When the subject of the sentence and the person doing the owning/possessing are the same, the possessive pronoun is replaced by अपना apnaa/अपने apne/अपनी apnee. All of these translates to “my own/her own/their own…”.
example:
मैं (अपना) पानी पीती हूँ main apnaa paanee peetee hoon
I drink (my own) water (said by a female).
We don’t use the regular word for “my” (मेरा meraa) here, instead we use अपना apnaa to mean “my own” because the subject of the sentence and the person doing the owning/possessing are the same. If अपना apnaa/अपने apne/अपनी apnee isn’t used, whatever is being owned/possessed would sound like it was being owned/possessed by another person and not the subject of the sentence.