In short

Possessive pronouns say whose something is: my, your, our. In Ukrainian most of them behave like adjectives — мій, твій, наш, ваш change their ending to match the gender and number of the noun that follows. The big exceptions are його́ (his/its) and її́ (her): these never change at all. Pick його or її by the owner’s sex, and keep the word exactly the same before any noun.

The rule

• мій (my), твій (your, to a «ти» person), наш (our), ваш (your, to a «ви» person or to several people) agree with their noun. In the singular they take a masculine, feminine or neuter form; in the plural one form covers all genders.
• Agreement follows the noun’s gender, not the owner’s: because маши́на is feminine, “my car” is моя́ маши́на, even if the owner is a man.
• його́ (his / its), її́ (her) and їх / ї́хній (their) express possession by a third person. його and її are invariable — one fixed word before masculine, feminine, neuter and plural nouns alike. Choose them by the possessor: його = belonging to him, її = belonging to her.
• These pronouns also change by case (like adjectives) when the noun is in the accusative, genitive, and so on: Я ба́чу твого́ бра́та (“I see your brother”). At A1 the nominative does most of the work; the second table below gives мій in full, and the agreeing pronouns follow the adjective model.
• Ukrainian has no present-tense “to be”, so Це мій дім is literally “This my house” = “This is my house.”

Forms & patterns

Nominative forms by the gender and number of the following noun:

Notice the two blocks that share endings: мій / моя́ / моє́ / мої́ and твій / твоя́ / твоє́ / твої́ decline the same way (end-stressed), while наш / на́ша / на́ше / на́ші and ваш / ва́ша / ва́ше / ва́ші share theirs (stem-stressed). The rows for його́, її́ repeat one form on purpose — that is the whole point: they do not agree.

мій — the same four columns, now across the cases. The stress sits on the ending throughout.

The two split accusative cells are animacy: an inanimate thing copies the nominative (мій стіл), an animate one the genitive (мого́ дру́га). твій repeats this paradigm exactly; наш, ваш and ї́хній run through the same cases with the stress fixed on the stem — на́шого, на́шій, на́шими; ї́хнього, ї́хньому, ї́хніми. його́ and її́ have no case forms at all.

Examples

Common mistakes

• мій маши́на -> моя́ маши́на — маши́на is feminine, so the possessive takes the feminine form моя́, not masculine мій.
• ваш кни́га -> ва́ша кни́га — кни́га is feminine, so use ва́ша.
• наш ді́ти -> на́ші ді́ти — a plural noun takes the plural form на́ші (one plural form for every gender).
• твій ім’я́ -> твоє́ ім’я́ — ім’я́ is neuter, so use the neuter form твоє́.
• його́ва сестра́ / trying to make his agree -> його́ сестра́ — його never changes shape; it stays його before masculine, feminine, neuter and plural nouns alike.
• її́ брат meaning “his brother” -> його́ брат — choose його / її by the owner’s sex (his = його, her = її), never by the noun.

Tips

• Treat мій, твій, наш, ваш like adjectives: match the noun’s gender in the singular, and use the single plural form for everything plural.
• Memorise each set as a four-word block — мій / моя́ / моє́ / мої́ — instead of one form at a time; the endings repeat across твій.
• Choose his vs her by the possessor, not the thing: його́ кни́га = a man’s book, її́ стіл = a woman’s table.
• Use твій for someone you address as ти, and ваш for ви (also for “your” when speaking to several people).
• Ukrainian often drops the possessive when ownership is obvious — say Я ми́ю ру́ки (I wash my hands), not «мої́ ру́ки».
• Ask whose with чий / чия́ / чиє́ / чиї́ — it agrees with the noun the same four ways: Чий це рюкза́к? Чия́ це ча́шка? Чиї́ це окуля́ри? The answer comes back with the possessive that agrees with that same noun.