MyLeoNes™

Showing who owns something: my, your, his and her — Foreign languages, 7–10 years

These small words tell us who a thing belongs to. They come before the thing: my book, your pencil, his coat or her bag.

A word that points to the owner

In English, my, your, his and her tell us who a thing belongs to. We say my red pen when it belongs to me, your red pen when it belongs to you, and his or her red pen for another person.

Why not say the owner's name every time?

When we talk about several people and things, repeating names becomes slow and confusing. Possessive words keep the link clear: Mia has a cat. Her cat is black. Her tells us whose cat we mean without saying Mia again.

Build the sentence

Sam owns a blue bike. First, choose the owner word: Sam is a boy, so use his. Next, put it before the thing: his bike. Add the colour and you get: His blue bike is outside. The word his replaces Sam's name before bike.

The owner is not the thing

A common mistake is choosing his or her from the object, not from the owner. A girl can own a ball, so we say her ball; a boy can own a doll, so we say his doll. The object does not decide the word—the person does.

Labels, bags and lost property

Possessive words help in real conversations when several similar things are together. At school you might say, This is my coat, not your coat. On a label, My name is Leo tells people which bag belongs to you.

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