Yo: mío, mío, míos, mías (my, mine, of mine)

 

Tú: tuyo, tuya, tuyos, tuyas (your, yours, of yours)

 

Él/ella/usted: suyo, suya, suyos, suyas (his, of his, her, hers, of hers, your, yours, of yours, its) 

 

Nosotros/nosotras: nuestro, nuestros, nuestra, nuestras (our, ours, of ours)

 

Vosotros/vosotras: vuestro, vuestros, vuestra, vuestras ((plural informal) your, yours, of yours)

 

Ellos/ellas/ustedes: suyo, suya, suyos, suyas (their, theirs, of theirs, (plural) your, yours, of yours)

You may have noticed that, in comparison to short form Spanish possessive adjectives, there are more possible translations for long form possessive adjectives in Spanish, which will vary according to their context. 

Examples of Long Form Possessive Adjectives in Spanish

Let's take a look at the many translations of long form possessive adjectives in Spanish via a plethora of examples from Yabla's Spanish video library.

1. Mío, mío, míos, mías

Este sombrero es mío. Estos sombreros son míos.

This hat is mine. These hats are mine.

Captions 10-11, Clase Aula Azul La posesión - Part 2

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Esta botella es mía. Estas botellas son mías.

This bottle is mine. These bottles are mine.

Captions 15-16, Clase Aula Azul La posesión - Part 2

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We chose these two examples to illustrate that, as we mentioned, long form Spanish possessive adjectives always agree with the nouns they modify in terms of both number and gender. As with short form Spanish possessive adjectives, the number/gender of the person or entity that "owns" is insignificant. Additionally, you will note that the translation for these Spanish possessive adjectives here is "mine." Let's look at an example where their translation is slightly different: 

Y han venido unos amigos míos desde Mallorca, aquí hasta Málaga,

And some friends of mine have come here to Malaga from Mallorca

Caption 15, Amaya Voluntarios

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Not only do we see an alternative translation for the long form Spanish possessive adjective míos (of mine), we see that long form Spanish possessive can be accompanied an article, in this case, the indefinite article unos. 

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2. Tuyo, tuya, tuyos, tuyas 

Now, let's look at some translations for the long form Spanish possessive adjective tuyo and its variants:

Así que, ¿no soy hijo tuyo?

So, I'm not your son?

Caption 68, Muñeca Brava 7 El poema - Part 2

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The interesting thing about this second example is that the long form Spanish possessive adjective tuyo has been translated as "your" instead of "yours" or "of yours," which is identical to the translation for the equivalent short form Spanish possessive adjective (tu). Hence, the same English sentence could have been written with the short form possessive adjective in Spanish, as follows:

Así que, ¿no soy tu hijo? 

So, I'm not your son?

So, we see that there are cases in which we could choose to use either the long or short form Spanish possessive adjective to express the exact same idea in English, although the long form is, perhaps, the slightly less common/more literary manner of doing so. 

3. Suyo, suya, suyos, suyas

As we saw in Part 1 of this lesson about short form Spanish possessive adjectives in regards to su and sus, this particular set of long form possessive adjectives can be confusing because they correspond with a lot of personal pronouns (él, ella, usted, ellos, ellas, and ustedes) and thus have a multitude of different translations, which we listed above. Context should usually help you to determine the meaning of these long form possessive adjectives in Spanish. Let's take a look: 

Estos sombreros son suyos.

These hats are hers.

Caption 31, Clase Aula Azul La posesión - Part 2

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While this example seems pretty simple at first glance, since the masculine plural form of the Spanish possessive adjective was chosen to agree with the noun it modifies (sombreros) rather than its corresponding personal pronoun (ella), this very same sentence could also mean "These hats are his," "These hats are yours" (one person or multiple people), or "These hats are theirs" (all males, all females, or a mixed group). So, let's hope that the text or conversation has given you some previous clues as to who the hats belong to and/or who is being spoken about (it usually does!). Let's see another example:

Efectivamente, era el rostro suyo

Indeed, it was his face

Caption 35, Aprendiendo con Carlos El microrrelato - Part 3

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What can we discern here? First, because the previous sentences in this flash fiction story by Carlos refer to the maestro de ceremonias, we know that "his" was the correct translation choice for suyo in this context. Second, remember that since the translation for the short form possessive adjective in Spanish su in English can also be "his," the very same idea could also have been conveyed with the sentence: "Efectivamente, era su rostro." Finally, we will reiterate that, although with short form possessive Spanish adjectives, the article is never used (it's simply su rostro), with the long form, they can be, as in the case of el rostro suyo. That said, this is a personal choice, and one might also omit the article and write simply "era rostro suyo" with no change in meaning. Let's look at one more variation of this long form Spanish possessive adjective.

Y también me gustó mucho la novela suya, eh, "Amor y pico"; me encantó.

And I also liked your soap opera a lot, um, "Love and Fortune;" I loved it.

Caption 41, Confidencial: El rey de la estafa Capítulo 2 - Part 1

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Here, since the speaker is consistently addressing a female actress with usted (formal "you") and talking to her about a soap opera she did, it is obvious that "your" is the intended meaning of the long form Spanish possessive adjective suya, which agrees in number and gender with the noun it modifies (la novela) and that, furthermore, the speaker chose to include that noun's definite article (la). We bet you're getting the hang of this by now! 

4. Nuestro, nuestros, nuestra, nuestras

Let's start off with some very simple examples:

Este sombrero es nuestro. Estos sombreros son nuestros. Esta botella es nuestra. Estas botellas son nuestras.

This hat is ours. These hats are ours. This bottle is ours. These bottles are ours.

Captions 35-38, Clase Aula Azul La posesión - Part 2

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Now, let's move on to a bit tougher one:

Padre nuestro, vamos a bendecir el alimento que vamos a comer.

Father of ours [or "Our Father], let's bless the food that we are going to eat.

Caption 55, Lecciones con Carolina Adjetivos posesivos - Part 1

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Through these clips, we can see not only the number/gender agreement we have been speaking about, but also some different translations for the long form Spanish possessive adjective forms of nuestro. 

5. Vuestro, vuestros, vuestra, vuestras

Let's conclude our lesson by looking at some clips of the long form Spanish possessive adjectives vuestro, etc.: 

Esta botella es vuestra. Estas botellas son vuestras.

This bottle is yours [plural]. These bottles are yours [plural].

Captions 41-42, Clase Aula Azul La posesión - Part 2

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¿Y el embutido es vuestro?

And, the sausage is yours?

Caption 57, 75 minutos Del campo a la mesa - Part 4

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In lieu of this translation, this last sentence might also have been translated as "And is the sausage yours?" or even "And is it your sausage?"

We hope that this lesson has helped you to understand long form Spanish possessive adjectives and how they are different from short form possessive adjectives in Spanish. As an additional source for learning about long form possessive adjectives in Spanish, we additionally recommend the lesson Clase Aula Azul- La posesión- Part 2, and no se olviden de dejarnos los comentarios y sugerencias tuyos (don't forget to leave us your comments and suggestions).

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In one of our latest videos, Raquel tells us about a very traditional festival in Spain: The "Fallas." When she explains what these "Fallas" are, she uses an expression that is worth exploring:

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Se trata de unas figuras de gran tamaño

It's about some large-sized figures

hechas de cartón y de madera.

made of cardboard and wood.

Captions 26-27, Raquel - Fiestas de España

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The verb tratar means "to treat," "to try" or "attempt," but also "to deal with" and, like in the previous example, "to be about." Let's review some examples to master this useful verb.

 When tratar means "to treat," is used the same way as in English:
 

¿Podrías tratarlo un poco mejor a tu hijo, no?

You could treat your son a little better, no?

Caption 31, Muñeca Brava - 1 Piloto

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In Spanish, however, this verb has many different applications. For example:
 

Necesitamos tratarnos.

We need to get to know each other.

Caption 18, El Ausente - Acto 3

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Bueno, a Felipe he tenido el privilegio de tratarlo.

Well, I have had the privilege to know Felipe.

Caption 38, Felipe Calderón - Publicidad

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Encerrarlos y maltratarlos es una cosa muy cruel.

To lock them up and abuse them is a very cruel thing.

Caption 33, Kikirikí - Animales

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Para tratar a alguien de "tú",

To address someone with "tú,"

tienes que tener una cierta cercanía...

you have to have a certain closeness...

Captions 22-23, Fundamentos del Español - 6 - Tú y Usted

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Me gusta tratar con... con el público,

I like dealing with... with the public,

con las personas que vienen.

with the people who come.

Captions 22-23, El Instituto Cervantes - Jefa de biblioteca

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Just as, in English, you can't use the verb "to treat" to translate the previous examples, in Spanish you can't use the verb tratar to express an idea such as "to treat someone to something." Instead you have to use the verbs invitar or convidar (to invite, to share):

Ni siquiera te convidé un café.

I didn't even treat you to a cup of coffee.

Caption 55, Muñeca Brava - 7 El poema

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Additionally, tratar can also mean "to try or attempt":
 

Pero en Andalucía varias iniciativas tratan de protegerlo.

But in Andalucia several initiatives attempt to protect it.

Caption 26, Club de las ideas - Batería de breves

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But don't ever try to use the verb tratar in the same way we use "to try" in expressions such as "try the food" or "try on the jeans." For that, Spanish uses another verb: probar. So, you must say prueba el pastel ("try the cake"), and me probé los pantalones ("I tried on the jeans") but never ever: trata el pastel or me traté los pantalones.

Tratar de (to try to) looks like tratarse de (to be about) but has a different meaning and it's not reflexive. Here is another example of tratarse de, using negation:
 

Ya ves que el juego no se trata de vestir mejor

You see that this game is not about dressing better

Caption 24, Hector Montaner - Apariencias

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These two examples are interesting. The same expression is used in Spanish, but English requires the use of different wording:
 

Es posible que alguna vez haya pensado usted,

It's possible that some time you have thought,

al escuchar el nombre del famoso arqueólogo

when hearing the name of the famous archeologist

Federico Kauffman Doig,

Federico Kauffman Doig,

que se trata de un investigador extranjero.

that he is a foreign researcher.

Captions 9-11, Federico Kauffman Doig - Arqueólogo

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Y más aún si se trata de ti

And even more so when it's related to you

Caption 7, Gloria Trevi - Cinco minutos

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Do you want to find more examples of the verb tratar in our catalog? You can use the search tool at the top of the screen in the Videos tab of our site to do so. Maybe you can find a use of tratar that we haven't discussed here. ¡Todo se trata de tratar, verdad?! (It's all about trying, right?). If you find some, tweet us @yabla or share them with us at support@yabla.com.