Definite Noun + ми/ти/му/ѝ/ни/ви/им

Short Possessive Forms

Level 2Sounds Like kratki pritežatelni mi/ti/mu/ì/ni/vi/im

Instead of моята книга you can say книгата ми (my book). Put the short word after the noun and give the noun its article.

How It Works

1. The forms. книгата ми (my book), книгата ти (your book), книгата му (his book), книгата ѝ (her book), книгата ни (our book), книгата ви (your book), книгата им (their book).

2. The article is needed. Say книгата ми, not книга ми. A masculine noun takes the full or short article as usual: Телефонът ми е тук (My phone is here), Взех телефона ти (I took your phone). Plurals take the plural article: приятелите ми (my friends). See full and short articles.

3. With an adjective. The short form follows the first word, which is now the adjective: новата ми кола (my new car), най-добрият ми приятел (my best friend). See the article on the first word.

4. Family words. Most singular kinship nouns take the short possessive without the article: майка ми (my mother), баща ти (your father), брат ѝ (her brother). Син is an exception and keeps it: синът ми (my son). Plurals keep the article: братята ми (my brothers). See kinship terms.

5. Short or full? Моята книга and книгата ми mean the same, and the short form is more common in speech. Use the full form for emphasis or on its own: Тази книга е моя. (This book is mine.) See full possessives.

Watch out: word order changes the meaning. Дай ми книгата is "Give me the book", but Дай книгата ми is "Give (me) my book".

Examples (6)

  1. Къде е телефонът ми?

    Where is my phone?

  2. Колата му е червена.

    His car is red.

  3. Това е къщата ни.

    This is our house.

  4. Как се казва кучето ви?

    What is your dog called?

  5. Новата ѝ работа е много интересна.

    Her new job is very interesting.

    Ѝ follows the first word, новата, which carries the article.

  6. Майка ми е учителка.

    My mother is a teacher.

    Like most singular family words, майка takes no article before ми.

Common Mistakes

  • Leaving out the article before a short possessive.

    Къде е книга ми?
    Къде е книгата ми?

    The noun before a short possessive needs its article: книгата ми.

  • Adding the article to a singular family word.

    Майката ми е учителка.
    Майка ми е учителка.

    Singular kinship nouns such as майка, баща and брат take the short possessive with no article.

  • Writing the possessive ѝ without its accent.

    Колата и е нова.
    Колата ѝ е нова.

    Without the grave accent, и reads as "and". The possessive "her" is always written ѝ.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

Definite Noun + ми/ти/му/ѝ/ни/ви/имLevel 2Short Possessive Forms

Learn This First

Short possessives combine dative short forms with the article.

Words in This Pattern

мимуѝнивиимВи