pronoun
his, its
A1
Possessive pronoun meaning 'his' or 'its'. Agrees with the possessed noun’s gender, number and case: sein Vater, seine Mutter, sein Kind, seine Bücher. Declines like an ein‑word (different endings for nominative, accusative, dative, genitive). Distinct from verb 'sein' though spelled identically.
VOCABULARY.DETAILS.EXAMPLES
Als die Post klingelte, nahm der Kollege sein Paket an, weil der Inhalt wichtig war.
When the postman rang, the colleague took his package because the contents were important.
Das Netzteil des Computers ist kaputt.
Its power supply is broken.
Er hat sein Buch vergessen.
He forgot his book.
VOCABULARY.DETAILS.DETAILS_LABEL
VOCABULARY.DETAILS.MNEMONICS
Imagine a small tag on an object that reads 'his' and underneath in German 'sein' — the tag helps you connect 'sein' to possession.
Sounds a bit like English 'sign' without the g (pronounced like 'zine'). Think 'sein' ~ 'sign' as a label meaning 'his'.
VOCABULARY.DETAILS.NOTES
This 'sein' is a possessive pronoun (meaning 'his' or 'its'), not the verb 'sein' (to be). It inflects to agree with the thing possessed (sein, seine, seinen, seinem, seines). Be careful: it agrees with the possessed noun's gender/case, not the owner. For example, 'sein Buch' (his book) but 'seine Tasche' (his bag).