GrammarPossessive

A possessive pronoun (притяжа́тельное местоиме́ние) tells you whose something is — my book, your house, our car. In Russian the main ones are:

• мой (my)
• твой (your — one person you say ты to)
• его́ (his / its)
• её (her)
• наш (our)
• ваш (your — plural or polite)
• их (their)
• свой (one's own — see below)

Agree with the thing, not the owner

This is the single most important idea. A Russian possessive agrees with the noun that is possessed — its gender, number and case — not with the person who owns it. English works the opposite way: "his" and "her" tell you about the owner. Russian мой tells you about the object.

• мой дом (my house — дом is masculine)
• моя́ маши́на (my car — маши́на is feminine)
• моё окно́ (my window — окно́ is neuter)
• мои́ кни́ги (my books — plural)

The owner (I, me) never changed — only the possessed noun did. Possessives behave like adjectives: they take endings that match their noun.

Two groups

The eight possessives split into two kinds:

The nominative forms

мой, твой and свой all follow the same pattern; наш and ваш share a pattern of their own.

Full declension of мой

твой and свой decline exactly the same way, just swap the first sound (тво-, сво-). Their full tables follow below.

In the accusative, masculine and plural have two forms: the shorter one for inanimate nouns (Я ви́жу мой дом) and the genitive-looking one for animate nouns (Я ви́жу моего́ бра́та). This is the usual accusative animacy rule.

Full declension of твой

твой (your, informal) takes exactly the same endings as мой:

Full declension of свой

свой (one's own) takes the same endings again:

Declension of наш

наш and ваш share this pattern. Notice the stress stays on the stem throughout..

Full declension of ваш

ваш (your, plural or polite) takes the same endings as наш:

его́, её, их never change

These three come from the genitive of он, она́, они́ ("of him", "of her", "of them"), so they are frozen. Whatever the gender, number or case of the possessed noun, they keep one form:

The noun after them still declines normally, only его́ / её / их stay fixed. Example: Я говорю́ с его́ бра́том (I'm talking with his brother) keeps его́ but puts брат into the instrumental.

Pronunciation note: the г in его́ sounds like "v" — say it as "yevо́".

свой - "one's own"

свой is a special reflexive possessive. Use it when the possessor is the subject of the clause. It means "belonging to the subject" - my own, your own, his own, their own - whoever the subject happens to be.

• Я взял свою́ кни́гу. (I took my (own) book.)
• Ты взял свою́ кни́гу. (You took your (own) book.)
• Она́ взяла́ свою́ кни́гу. (She took her (own) book.)

свой can be really useful with the third person, because it removes ambiguity. Take the sentence "He loves his wife" - this could mean he loves either his own wife or another man's. In Russian we can make it clear:

• Он лю́бит свою́ жену́. (He loves his own wife.)
• Он лю́бит его́ жену́. (He loves someone else's wife.)

Note: For "My brother lives here" you can not say Свой брат живёт здесь, but only Мой брат живёт здесь is correct.

See also the related word себя́ in our guide on reflexive pronouns.

Don't overuse the possessive

In English we use possessives a lot ("I wash my hands", "he lost his keys"). In Russian you leave them out whenever ownership is obvious, especially with body parts and close relations:

• Я мо́ю ру́ки. (I wash my hands.)
• Он взял ключи́ и ушёл. (He took his keys and left.)

Adding свой here would sound heavy or even wrong, even though people will still understand it. Only include the possessive when it carries real information (contrast, emphasis, or a genuinely unclear owner).

Asking "whose?" with чей

To ask whose something is, use the interrogative чей. Like the possessives, it agrees with the thing it asks about:

• Чей э́то дом? (Whose house is this?) — masculine
• Чья э́то маши́на? (Whose car is this?) — feminine
• Чьё э́то окно́? (Whose window is this?) — neuter
• Чьи э́то кни́ги? (Whose books are these?) — plural

More on чей in the interrogative & relative pronouns article.

Common mistakes

• Declining его́ / её / их. They are frozen, there is no его́й, ихний or ейный.
  Я живу́ в его́м до́ме (wrong) → Я живу́ в его́ до́ме (correct)
• Agreeing with the owner instead of the possessed noun. Match the thing, not the person.
  Э́то мой маши́на (wrong) → Э́то моя́ маши́на (correct)
• Using его́ / её where свой is needed. If the owner is the subject, use свой.
  Он потеря́л его́ ключи́ (= someone else's keys) → Он потеря́л свои́ ключи́ (his own keys)
• Forgetting the case ending. The possessive must take the same case as its noun.
  Я говорю́ о мой брат (wrong) → Я говорю́ о моём бра́те (correct)

Summary

• A possessive shows whose something is and agrees with the possessed noun, not with the owner.
• мой, твой, наш, ваш, свой decline for gender, number and case.
• его́, её, их are invariable, just one fixed form.
• мой, твой and свой decline the same; also наш and ваш.
• Use свой when the possessor is the subject, it resolves "his/her/their" ambiguity.
• Russian often drops the possessive when the owner is obvious.
• Ask "whose?" with чей / чья / чьё / чьи.