Genau
Topic test · A1

Possessives · mein · dein · sein test

13questions
8minutes
60%pass mark
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One question at a time, the clock runs. Answers stay closed like a real exam: you see every correct answer with its explanation at the end. Score 60% to finish the topic.

Topic test

13 questions, easy to hard

Pick an option and press «Next». You can go back and change it. Anything left blank counts as wrong.

Das ist Ali. Frau heißt Ayşe.

Seine. The owner is Ali (male) → sein; die Frau is feminine, so -e.

Sie sucht Mantel. (der Mantel)

She is looking for her coat.

ihren. The owner is female → ihr; the object is masculine and in the Akkusativ → -en.

Ich sehe Mutter.

I see my mother.

meine. In the Akkusativ only the masculine changes; the feminine stays the same as in the Nominativ.

Wir fahren mit Kindern.

We are going with our children.

unseren Kindern. mit takes the Dativ; in the plural Dativ the possessive takes -en and the noun takes -n.

Which one is spelled correctly?

eure Mutter. With a feminine noun euer takes an ending and the inner e drops. euren never goes with a feminine noun.

“Your ticket, please” (formal) →

Ihr — the formal possessive is capitalised even in the middle of a sentence; euer is the informal plural.

Hund heißt Rex. (our)

Our dog is called Rex.

der Hund is masculine and the subject: the possessive stays bare — unser Hund. unsere is for feminine/plural.

Ich suche Schlüssel. (my · der Schlüssel)

I’m looking for my key.

The thing being looked for is the object: the masculine Akkusativ takes -en — meinen Schlüssel. Possessives decline like ein.

What is the difference between sein and ihr?

The owner’s gender decides: Ali’s wife is seine Frau, Ayşe’s husband is ihr Mann. The gender of the thing owned only decides the ENDING.

Which is correct?

das Buch is neuter and Nominativ: the possessive stays bare — dein Buch.

The sentence “Das ist Ali. Ihre Frau heißt Ayşe.” is correct.

False. The owner is male (Ali), so it has to be seine. The ending comes from the feminine noun: seine Frau.

Sie sucht Mantel. (a woman looking for her coat)

She is looking for her coat.

ihren. The owner is female, so ihr; the coat is masculine in the Akkusativ, so it takes -en.

Build the sentence: I’m looking for my key.

Tap the pieces to build the sentence

der Schlüssel is the object, so it takes the masculine Akkusativ ending: meinen.
Quick rules

The rules in three lines

The full topic lives on its own page. This is only the core you need for the test.

  1. The owner picks the word, the noun picks the ending

    Two separate questions: WHO is the owner (mein/dein/sein/ihr…) and what gender/case is the thing owned (the ending). Mix them up and you get the sein/ihr mistake.

    seine Frau · ihr Mann

  2. They decline like ein

    Possessives belong to the ein-family: bare in the masculine/neuter Nominativ (mein Buch), -e for feminine/plural (meine Mutter), -en for the masculine Akkusativ (meinen Schlüssel).

    Ich suche meinen Schlüssel.

  3. The e of euer drops out

    With an ending, euer → eure · euren: eure Mutter (“euere” is rare and old-fashioned).

    eure Mutter

  4. Formal possessive: Ihr, always capitalised

    Ihr Ticket, bitte. — the possessive of the polite Sie. A lowercase ihr means “her” or “their”.

    Ihr Ticket, bitte.

Traps

Commonly mixed up

Where a direct translation breaks. The hard questions come from here.

  • Das ist Ali. Ihre Frau heißt Ayşe.

    Seine Frau heißt Ayşe.

    The owner is male: sein. The ending comes from the feminine noun: seine.

  • Sie sucht ihr Mantel.

    Sie sucht ihren Mantel.

    der Mantel is masculine and the object: -en.

  • euer Mutter

    eure Mutter

    With a feminine noun euer takes an ending and loses its inner e: eure.

  • ihr Ticket, bitte (formal address, lowercase i)

    Ihr Ticket, bitte.

    The polite possessive is capitalised everywhere.