Possessive adjectives and subject pronouns (I/my, you/your, etc.) — Explanation

For A1–A2 learners, this site has clear explanations and interactive exercises that will help you learn how to use possessive adjectives and subject pronouns in English (I/my, you/your, he/his, etc.).

Possessive adjectives and subject pronouns (I/my, you/your, etc.)

When you talk about people and the things they own in English, you use subject pronouns and possessive adjectives. They often go together, but they do different things in a sentence.

1. Subject Pronouns

Subject pronouns take the place of a person's or thing's name and show who does something in a sentence.

Subject Pronoun	Example Sentence
I	I am a teacher.
You	You are my friend.
He	He lives in London.
She	She likes music.
It	It is raining.
We	We are happy.
They	They play football.

Use subject pronouns before the verb:

• She works in an office.
• They study English every day.

2. Possessive Adjectives

Possessive adjectives tell you who owns something. They always come before a noun.

Subject Pronoun	Possessive Adjective	Example Sentence
I	my	This is my book.
You	your	Where is your phone?
He	his	That is his car.
She	her	I like her dress.
It	its	The cat is eating its food.
We	our	Our house is big.
They	their	Their children are at school.

Use possessive adjectives to describe things that belong to someone:

• This is my bag.
• Their teacher is very kind.

3. Common Mistakes

Don’t confuse subject pronouns and possessive adjectives:

• Incorrect: She book is red.
• Correct: Her book is red.
• Incorrect: Me like English.
• Correct: I like English.

4. Quick Practice

Try matching each subject pronoun with its possessive adjective:

• I → my
• You → your
• He → his
• She → her
• It → its
• We → our
• They → their

Tip:

Think of the pair as belonging together — I/my, you/your, he/his, she/her, it/its, we/our, they/their.

It's easy to remember the other one once you learn the first one!