Welcome to our lesson on Chinese possessive pronouns. Possessive pronouns are words that show who owns or possesses something. In Chinese, we create possessive pronouns by adding the particle 的, pronounced 'de', after personal pronouns. For example, 我 meaning 'I' becomes 我的 meaning 'my' or 'mine'.
Now let's look at singular possessive pronouns. We have 我的 meaning 'my' or 'mine', 你的 meaning 'your' or 'yours', 他的 meaning 'his', 她的 meaning 'her' or 'hers', and 它的 meaning 'its'. Notice that 他, 她, and 它 all sound the same as 'tā' but have different written forms for masculine, feminine, and inanimate objects respectively.
For plural possessive pronouns, we add 们 to the singular forms. We have 我们的 meaning 'our' or 'ours', 你们的 meaning 'your' or 'yours' for multiple people, 他们的 for 'their' referring to males or mixed groups, 她们的 for 'their' referring to females, and 它们的 for 'their' referring to objects or animals. The pronunciation remains similar but the meaning changes to plural.
An important usage note: the particle 的 can sometimes be omitted in Chinese. This typically happens with close relationships like 我妈妈 instead of 我的妈妈, with institutions like 我们学校 instead of 我们的学校, or with body parts. However, 的 is kept when you want to emphasize possession or in formal situations. Understanding when to omit 的 makes your Chinese sound more natural.
Let's look at some example sentences. 这是我的书 means 'This is my book', where 我的 shows that the book belongs to me. 那辆车是他的 means 'That car is his', using 他的 to show masculine possession. 我们的家在这里 means 'Our home is here', using 我们的 for plural possession. These examples show how possessive pronouns work in real Chinese sentences to indicate ownership clearly.