FormPossessivartikel (Stamm nach Besitzer) + -en vor einem maskulinen Nomen im Akkusativ
Meaning and usage
meinen, deinen and seinen are the forms of mein, dein and sein that you use before a masculine noun in the accusative. The stem shows who owns the thing: mein for the speaker, dein for the person spoken to, sein for a male or neuter owner. The ending -en is the same as in einen.
You meet this form after verbs like suchen, besuchen, mitbringen and anrufen, and after the accusative prepositions für and um. A common mistake is to use the plain stem, as in Ich besuche mein Onkel, but before a masculine noun in the accusative the ending -en is required. Note that the same ending also appears in the dative plural, as in mit meinen Freunden, so -en is not limited to the masculine accusative.
Examples 5
Ich werde nächste Woche meinen Onkel besuchen.
I'll visit my uncle next week.
Du musst deinen Pass zur Bank mitbringen.
You should bring your passport to the bank.
Nächste Woche will ich meinen Freund besuchen.
I want to visit my friend next week.
Er hat seinen Sohn im Krieg verloren.
He lost his son in the war.
Trinkst du deinen Kaffee noch immer schwarz?
Do you still drink your coffee black?
Test yourself
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1 Sprachbausteine
Ich rufe morgen Bruder an.
Show answer
Correct answer: meinen
Bruder is masculine singular, and anrufen takes the accusative, so the possessive article needs the ending -en: meinen Bruder.
- meine is used with feminine and plural nouns, and Bruder is masculine singular.
- meinem is the dative form, but anrufen takes the accusative.
- mein is the form for a masculine noun in the nominative, but anrufen needs the accusative.
In this topic: Possessives
Example sentences from Tatoeba, used under CC BY 2.0 FR. See sources.