The Verb Ser and Possession
You've already learned that ser, a rather versatile Spanish verb, may express “to be” in six particular ways—personal identity, relationships, profession, origin, personality, and character appearance. To these six, you can also add possession. To review the conjugations of the verb ser, refer to the following table.
Conjugating Ser
The third person of the verb ser allows for a possessive construction, like the following two examples:
| El coche es mío. Es mi coche. | The car is mine. It is my car. |
| La casa es mía. Es mi casa. | The house is mine. It is my house. |
This construction works in all of the verb tenses:
| Fue mi coche. | It was/used to be my car (but no longer). |
| Era mi coche. | It was my car (and may or may not be now). |
| Ha sido mi coche desde hace cuatro años. | It has been my car since four years ago. |
| Será mi coche. | It will be my car. |
What if you were talking about more than one car? How can this construction be expressed for plural items? Well, you simply use the third-person plural form of ser: son (in the present tense), and so on. Take a look at the following examples:
| Son mis metas ahora. | They are my goals now. |
| Son mis metas cada vez que intento. | They are my goals each time I try. |
| Fueron mis metas. | They were/used to be my goals (but no longer). |
| Eran mis metas. | They were my goals. |
| Han sido mis metas desde la universidad. | They have been my goals since college. |
| Serán mis metas de hoy en adelante. | They will be my goals from now on. |
Ser in Possessive Constructions
Translate the following sentences, using the appropriate forms of ser and possessive adjectives and pronouns. Use your English-to-Spanish and Spanish-to-English dictionary to look up words you don't already know. Then, check your answers.
1. It is my sweater.
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2. The telephone is his.
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3. They're my trousers.
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4. They're (feminine) yours (informal).
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5. Good grades will be mine.
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6. The eyeglasses are his.
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