Russian Possessive Pronouns: How to Say My, Your and Our
Russian has two kinds of possessive. мой, твой, наш and ваш (my, your, our, your-plural) change their ending to match the thing owned — мой дом but моя́ кни́га. The words for his, her and their — его́, её, их — never change. And свой means "one's own", pointing back to the subject of the sentence.
Saying "my book" or "your house" in Russian means more than learning one word for "my". A possessive word has to agree with the thing it describes, so "my" has several shapes — and then there is a special word, свой, that English has no neat match for. This guide sorts the whole set into three clear groups so you always know which form to reach for.
Published 7 November 2026
There are really three things to learn here, and they are easier apart than together. First, the four everyday words — мой (my), твой (your), наш (our) and ваш (your, to a group or politely) — which all change their ending. Second, the three words for his, her and their, which never change at all. Third, the reflexive свой, "one's own", which quietly solves an ambiguity English just lives with. We'll take them in that order.
The four that agree: мой, твой, наш, ваш
A Russian possessive is really an adjective in disguise: it has to agree (take an ending that matches) with the noun it sits in front of — specifically with that noun's gender (masculine, feminine or neuter) and number (singular or plural). So each of these four words has four basic forms, used in the nominative (the plain, subject form you meet a noun in first):
English
+ masculine
+ feminine
+ neuter
+ plural
my
мой
моя́
моё
мои́
your (one person, informal)
твой
твоя́
твоё
твои́
our
наш
на́ша
на́ше
на́ши
your (group, or polite to one person)
ваш
ва́ша
ва́ше
ва́ши
The pattern is the same across all four: a bare form before a masculine noun, then -а / -е (-ё) / -и for feminine, neuter and plural. If you already know the formal and informal "you", the split between твой and ваш follows exactly the same line as ты and вы.
The agreement matches the thing, not the owner
This is the point that trips up English speakers, because in English "my" is "my" whatever follows. In Russian the possessive looks at the noun beside it, not at who the owner is. One owner — you — produces four different words depending on what you own:
Russian
Meaning
Why that form
мой дом
my house
дом is masculine → мой
моя́ кни́га
my book
кни́га is feminine → моя́
моё окно́
my window
окно́ is neuter → моё
мои́ друзья́
my friends
друзья́ is plural → мои́
So the question to ask is never "how do I say my?" but "what gender is the thing I'm talking about?". If genders are still new, Russian gender shows how to read them off the ending of the noun, and the same agreement logic drives ordinary adjective endings too.
A quick way to check yourself. Point at something and say Это мой / моя́ / моё… ("This is my…"). If it sounds wrong, you've probably mismatched the gender — say the noun first, decide its gender, then pick the possessive.
His, her, their: его́, её, их — these never change
Here is the good news that balances the tables above. The words for his, her and their are completely fixed. They take no endings, agree with nothing, and look identical no matter what follows:
Russian
Meaning
With different nouns
его́
his / its
его́ дом, его́ кни́га, его́ окно́, его́ друзья́
её
her
её дом, её кни́га, её окно́, её друзья́
их
their
их дом, их кни́га, их окно́, их друзья́
Why are they frozen? Because they aren't really possessive adjectives at all — they are the genitive ("of…") forms of the pronouns он, она́ and они́, pressed into service to mean "his, her, their". Since they're already pronouns in a set form, they don't take adjective endings. One pronunciation note worth catching early: его́ is pronounced yevó — the г sounds like a "v", the same quiet rule you meet in у него́ ("he has").
Свой: "one's own", and the trap it saves you from
Russian has one more possessive with no tidy English equal: свой, meaning "one's own". You use it when the owner is the same person as the subject of the sentence — when someone does something to or with their own thing. It declines exactly like мой: свой, своя́, своё, свои́.
Its real value shows up in the third person, where it removes an ambiguity English can't. Compare:
Russian
Meaning
Он лю́бит свою́ жену́.
He loves his own wife.
Он лю́бит его́ жену́.
He loves his wife — another man's wife.
In English "he loves his wife" could, in theory, mean either; Russian forces you to be clear. Use свой when the thing belongs to the subject, and его́ / её / их when it belongs to someone else. (The forms свою́ and жену́ here are in the accusative, the direct-object case, because the wife is what he loves — the same ending-change you see on the objects of other verbs.)
Rule of thumb. If you can replace "his/her/their" with "his/her/their own" and the meaning holds, Russian wants свой. With я and ты you'll often hear свой too — Я взял свою́ кни́гу ("I took my [own] book") — though there мою́ is also understood.
Yes, they change by case too
Everything above is in the nominative. Like adjectives, these possessives also take different endings in the other cases (the forms that show a word's job in the sentence). You don't need the full grid to start talking, but it helps to recognise forms like моего́, моему́, мои́м or на́шем when they turn up:
У меня́ нет моего́ па́спорта. — I don't have my passport. (genitive, after нет)
Я звоню́ своему́ бра́ту. — I'm calling my brother. (dative, "to")
Мы говори́м о на́шем го́роде. — We're talking about our city. (prepositional, "about")
The endings are the regular adjective ones, so once you've met the six cases, the possessives come almost free — and его́, её, их stay blissfully unchanged through every single case.
Try it yourself
Fill in the right Russian possessive. Cover the answers first.
my (feminine) — ___ маши́на ("my car", маши́на is feminine)
our (plural) — ___ де́ти ("our children")
his — ___ брат ("his brother")
her — ___ и́мя ("her name", и́мя is neuter)
He's reading his own letter: Он чита́ет ___ письмо́.
Answers. 1. моя́ маши́на. 2. на́ши де́ти. 3. его́ брат (never changes). 4. её и́мя (never changes — the neuter noun makes no difference). 5. своё письмо́ (his own, so свой → neuter своё).
Questions people actually ask
How do you say "my" in Russian? Use мой, but change its ending to match the thing you own: мой (masculine) as in мой дом ("my house"), моя́ (feminine) as in моя́ кни́га ("my book"), моё (neuter) as in моё окно́ ("my window"), and мои́ (plural) as in мои́ друзья́ ("my friends"). The word agrees with the thing owned, not with you.
Do Russian possessive pronouns change their form? Most do. мой, твой (your, informal), наш (our) and ваш (your, plural or polite) each have four basic forms for masculine, feminine, neuter and plural, and they also change by case. The exceptions are его́ (his), её (her) and их (their), which never change.
What is the difference between его́ and свой?свой means "one's own" and points back to the subject, so Он лю́бит свою́ жену́ means "He loves his (own) wife". его́ means "his" and refers to some other man, so Он лю́бит его́ жену́ means "He loves his (another man's) wife". Choosing the wrong one changes who is meant.
Why doesn't его́ change for gender like мой does?его́, её and их are frozen forms — the genitive ("of him / of her / of them") of он, она́ and они́, borrowed to mean his, her and their. Being pronouns in a fixed form, they take no adjective endings. And его́ is pronounced "yevó", with the г sounding like a "v".
Possessives are one of those corners of Russian that look like a wall of tables and turn out to be three small habits: match the gender for мой-type words, leave его́ / её / их alone, and reach for свой when the owner is the subject. The way they stop feeling like a decision and start coming out automatically is by saying lots of short true sentences about your own things — which is exactly what we build — start your seven-day free trial — no card required. New to the app? Search "Gora Academy" in the Apple App Store or Google Play, or open it on the web.