Possession
Who or what does it belong to?
Significado
Possession shows who or what someone or something belongs to or is closely connected with. It can link an object to its owner, a child to a parent, or a book to its writer. Languages use endings, separate words, or word order, and some have no possession endings. Part and whole focuses on pieces or members of something, while Possession also covers ownership and other close connections.
Como identificar
Look for a link that identifies whose something is or who it is closely connected with, even when no one owns it.
Na tua língua materna
Possession is expressed with words such as meu/minha and seu/sua, or with de followed by the owner. Possessive words match the thing possessed in gender and number, not the owner, and an article before them is often optional in Brazilian Portuguese. Seu/sua can refer to the listener or another person; dele/dela identifies a male or female owner more clearly.
Minha mochila ficou no carro.
Minha is feminine singular because mochila is feminine singular.
Você trouxe o seu carregador?
Here seu refers to the listener; the article o could be omitted.
Este caderno é da Júlia.
Da combines de with the article a.
Na tua língua de aprendizagem
English often places the owner before the noun, as in my bag or Emma's bag. Forms such as mine and hers stand without a following noun, while of links many other connections, as in the name of the street. Have expresses possession in a sentence, as in I have a bike.
This is my seat.
My comes before the noun; the is not used with it.
Emma's brother lives nearby.
The 's marks a family connection, not ownership.
That blue bag is mine.
Mine stands on its own without a following noun.
Learners whose language marks possession on the owned noun may put 's on the wrong noun or leave out my/your. Learners whose language uses one form both before a noun and on its own may confuse my and mine.