1 Vote

Can someone please explain how Su and Sus are used? Do they mean both your and their? For exmaple, is "your house" "Su casa" and your houses "Sus casas"? Is "their houses" "Sus casas" also'

  • Posted Jan 8, 2008
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Su and sus are the possesive pronouns for Usted or Ustedes. You use su if the object it is reffering to is sngular, and sus is used if the objects are plural. For example:
Su bolso es azul - Your bag is blue.
Sus coches son rapidos - Your cars are fast.
This is if the person you are address warrants the Ud. form. If not, use tu/tus.

1 Vote

So then the complete picture would look like this?

Yo = Mi/Mis
Tu = Tu /Tus
Ud.,El, Ella = Su/Sus

Nosotros = Nuestro/Nuestros
Vosotros = ?
Ellos, Ellas = Su/Sus'

1 Vote

my house = mi casa

my houses = mis casas

our house = nuestra casa

our houses = nuestras casas

As you can see, whether the possesive pronoun is in plural (s-ending) depends entirely on whether the possesed thing or person is (this is concordance). The rest of the word refers to the owner. It works the same for su(s), the confusing part is that su(s) has many possible meanings:

su casa = your (formal: singular or plural)(de usted(es), his(de él), her(de ella), their(de ellos/ellas) house.

sus casas = all the same, except now it is houseS.

The possesive pronouns are:

yo - mi(s)

tú - tu(s)

él/ella/usted - su(s)

nosotros/as - nuestro/a(s)

vosotros/as - vuestro/a(s)

ellos/ellas/ustedes - su(s)

Keep in mind that the gender of the possesive pronoun (just like the plurality) refers to the possessed, not the possesor:

Nosotros miramos nuestra casa.

Nosotros miramos nuestro perro.

Nosotras miramos nuestra casa.

Nosotras miramos nuestro perro.

So you were correct, OP! :D

For extra emphasis, or to distinguish what is yours from what is mine etc., you can use these BEHIND the thing/person possesed:

yo - mío/a(s)

tú - tuyo/a(s)

él/ella/usted - suyo/a(s)

nosotros/as - nuestro/a(s)

vosotros/as - vuestro/a(s)

ellos/ellas/ustedes - suyo/a(s)

"Estos son el libro y la camiseta míos, eso es el (libro) tuyo y aquella es la (camiseta) suya."

"¡Seguro que mi padre es mucho más fuerte que el tuyo!"

1 Vote

Hola Richard.

Your sentences were correct.

Dont forget that the "su" agrees with the object possessed by the possesor. (You observed this correctly.

El chico va con su maestra al parque.

Los chicos van consu maestra. Note. It doesn't change. "Su" has to agee with "maestra.


La maestra va al parque con sus alumnos. Here the maestra is singular but the alumnos are plural, so it's "sus" The other responders gave pretty encyclopedic answers, but I think you wanted to zero in on "su" and "sus"

Su and sus have multiple meanings: His, Hers, Your (used with Ud. or Uds.) also "Their" either gender.

One of the cool things about this is I can say something like the following In Spanish a little bit easier than English. I will give the Spanish first.

Quiero que cada estudiante abra su libro en la página cuarenta y dos. Watch the English:

"I want each student to open his or her book.

I don't know if I gave you enough information or not, but any good textbook such as "Panorama" (any edition) will greatly help you to get this concept.

As a native Spanish speaker, and as a Spanish teacher, I am well aware of the problems that students have with some of the "quirkier" things that exist in the language. If I haven't cleared up the mud for you, send me a PM

  • Very nice explanation, Dani. Thanks - sanlee Nov 26, 2014 flag
0 Vote

su/sus = your, his, her, their, one's, it's

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Looks good to me. Yo etc are subject pronouns & Mi etc are possessive pronouns.

0 Vote

I think vosotros = vuestro.

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