Lesson 19. My family

My, your, his, our

Whose	Singular	Plural
my	mi hermano	mis hermanos
your (tú)	tu hermano	tus hermanos
his, her, their, your (usted / ustedes)	su hermano	sus hermanos
our	nuestro piso / nuestra casa	nuestros / nuestras
your (vosotros)	vuestro piso / vuestra casa	vuestros / vuestras

The possessive agrees with the thing owned, not with the owner — the opposite of English his / her:

• Mi, tu, su change only for number: mi madre, mis padres.
• Nuestro and vuestro also change for gender: nuestro piso, nuestra calle — even if the speakers are all men or all women.

Vuestro / vuestra goes with vosotros, the informal plural “you” used in Spain. In most of Latin America, a group is addressed as ustedes, so su / sus is used even in informal settings.

Su and clarifying with de

Su can mean “his,” “her,” “their,” or “your” (with usted / ustedes). Context usually makes it clear. If not, use de + person: su madre → la madre de Javier — “Javier’s mother.” Spanish has no ‘s; this de is the one from lesson 18.

Tu and tú

Tu without an accent mark is “your”: tu hermano. Tú with one is “you”: ¿Y tú?

¿Cómo se llama?

¿Cómo se llama tu hermano? — “What’s your brother’s name?” It extends Me llamo… / ¿Cómo te llamas? from lesson 1: for someone else, use se llama. Se llama Marta.

Two apellidos

In Spain people usually have two surnames, one from each parent. Each parent passes on their first surname; the order can vary. In Javier García López, García comes from his father and López from his mother. In conversation people often use only the first one.