A2-32 · Say whose post or phone it is
Social media
Use possessives in the nominative, accusative and dative, and name ownership with Evas Handy.
About 5 minutes to read · 12 quiz questions
01
Identify a post and its owner
Possessives follow the noun’s gender and case. In the nominative use mein Beitrag, meine Nachricht and mein Foto. For a masculine accusative object, use meinen Beitrag.
Mein Beitrag ist neu.
My post is new.
Ich lese meinen Beitrag.
I am reading my post.
Meine Nachricht ist kurz.
My message is short.
Ich teile mein Foto.
I am sharing my photo.
Der Beitrag means post, die Nachricht message and das Foto photo. The owner selects mein, dein, sein or ihr; the noun and case select the ending.
02
Use possessives after dative prepositions
Mit and von take the dative: mit meinem Handy, von meiner Freundin. Plural dative uses meinen and often adds -n to the noun: mit meinen Freunden.
Ich fotografiere mit meinem Handy.
I take photos with my phone.
Die Nachricht ist von meiner Freundin.
The message is from my female friend.
Ich chatte mit meinen Freunden.
I chat with my friends.
Ich fotografiere mit eurem Handy.
I take photos with your phone, you all.
Das Handy means mobile phone. Euer drops its inner e in forms such as eure and eurem. Apply the same case endings to other possessive stems.
03
Use a name to show ownership
Add -s to most names without an apostrophe: Evas Handy, Bens Foto. Names ending in an s-sound take an apostrophe: Max’ Beitrag. These name forms express ownership.
Das ist Evas Handy.
That is Eva’s phone.
Ich mag Bens Foto.
I like Ben’s photo.
Das ist Max’ Beitrag.
That is Max’s post.
Der Beitrag hat viele Likes.
The post has many likes.
A follower is ein Follower and a like is ein Like; their plurals are Follower and Likes. Avoid an extra article before Evas Handy.
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