Do you know what a possessive noun is? This article will provide you with all of the information you need on possessive nouns, including the definition, usage, example sentences, and more!
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According to Your Dictionary, possessive nouns show ownership of a person, place, thing, idea, quality or action by adding an apostrophe, an “s” or both. This varies with whether you are making a single noun possessive or plural noun possessive, and if that word ends in s. There are many different types of possessive nouns including singular possessive nouns, plural possessive nouns, indefinite possessive pronouns, hyphenated or compound words, compound possessive nouns, and more. These are sometimes different in American English and British English. The indefinite possessive pronouns are listed here:
Each one – each one’s
Someone – someone’s
Something – something’s
Somebody – somebody’s
Nobody – nobody’s
Another – another’s
Anybody – anybody’s
No one – no one’s
One – One’s
Each other – each other’s
Many different languages also contain words that mean noun. You may notice that some of these translations of noun look and sound similar to one another. These are called cognates, which are words and phrases in different languages that likely have the same root or language of origin, causing them to sound the same. The below list of translations of noun is provided by Word Sense.
French: nom (masc.), nom substantif (masc.), substantif (masc.)
Azeri: isim, ad
Spanish: nombre substantivo (masc.), nombre sustantivo (masc.), substantivo (masc.), sustantivo (masc.), (Venezuela) nombre (masc.)
West Frisian: haadwurd (neut.)
Breton: anv-kadarn
Scots: noun
Cyrillic: именица
Afrikaans: selfstandige naamwoord
Erzya: лемвал
Telugu: నామవాచకము
Catalan: substantiu (masc.)
Bengali: বিশেষ্য
Shor: небелик (nebelik)
Romanian: substantiv (neut.)
Nynorsk: substantiv (neut.)
Irish: ainmfhocal (masc.)
Buryat: юумэнэй нэрэ
Tajik: исм
Asturian: sustantivu
Hebrew: שמא
Chechen: цӏердош
Gujarati: સંજ્ઞા
Greenlandic: taggit
Georgian: არსებითი სახელი
Kazakh: зат есім
Khmer: នាម (niem)
Hebrew: שֵׁם עֶצֶם
Persian: اسم (esm)
Novial: substantive
Icelandic: nafnorð (neut.) (abbrev. “no.”)
Italian: sostantivo (masc.), nome sostantivo (masc.)
Quechua: sutirimana
Syriac: ܫܡܐ
Kyrgyz: зат атооч
Hawaiian: haʻiinoa
Scottish Gaelic: ainmear (masc.)
Faroese: navnorð (neut.)
Alemannic: Substantiv (neut.)
Latvian: lietvārds (masc.), substantīvs (masc.)
Rwanda-Rundi:
Crimean Tatar: ad, isim
Low German: Substantiv
Tamil: பெயர்ச்சொல்
Kashubian: jistnik (masc.)
Japanese: 名詞 (めいし, meishí)
Bishnupriya Manipuri:
Chuvash: япала ячĕ
Portuguese: substantivo (masc.)
Hindi: संज्ञा (masc.)
Roman: imenica (fem.)
Albanian: emër
Sinhalese: නාම පදය, නාමය
Amharic: ስም
What are examples of possessive nouns?
A possessive noun can be used in many different contexts in the English language. Trying to use a word or literary technique in a sentence is one of the best ways to memorize what it is, but you can also try making flashcards or quizzes that test your knowledge. Try using this term of the day in a sentence today! Below are many examples of possessive nouns from Your Dictionary that can help get you started incorporating this tool into your everyday use. Try to use the term possessive noun today or notice when someone else is using a possessive noun.
Kevin Miller is a growth marketer with an extensive background in Search Engine Optimization, paid acquisition and email marketing. He is also an online editor and writer based out of Los Angeles, CA. He studied at Georgetown University, worked at Google and became infatuated with English Grammar and for years has been diving into the language, demystifying the do's and don'ts for all who share the same passion! He can be found online here.
Kevin
December 2, 2021
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