Mäin, däin, säin: Possessive Adjectives – 1

IN Level A1

What are Luxembourgish Possessive Adjectives

Meng and mäin are translated into Englsih by my. Mäin and meng are possessive adjectives and they refer to nouns they belong to, hence the word possessive.

When you’re considering which possessive adjective to use and how to use it, there are three factors to bear in mind:

1. Know which adjective you need

There are 7 possessive adjectives in Luxembourgish you should know. Once you’re familiar with those, you should have no trouble translating your English into the correct Luxembourgish word. Below are some examples of how you can use them in sentences.

2. Get the noun gender right

In Luxembourgish, nouns are classed as being either masculine, feminine or neuter. The noun’s gender dictates its definite article: den, d’ or d’.

The gender of nouns also affects possessive articles. Just like definite articles, possessive articles will change as follows.

Zum Beispill – for example:

den Numm is masculine , so we have to say mäin Numm for my name.

d’ Mamm is feminine, so we have to say meng Mamm for my mother.

d’ Kand is neuter, so we have to say mäi Kand for my child.

d’ Elteren is plural, so we have to say meng Elteren for my parents.

Note that mäin is subject to the n-rule. Remember that the final n of a word is dropped if the following word doesn’t start with a vowel or d,n,t,h,z. Therefore you must say and write mäi Kand.

Possessive Adjectives – Masculine nouns

den Hond – the dog

ech – Mäin Hond ass léif. – My dog is nice.

du – Däin Hond ass léif.- Your dog is nice.

hien / hatt – Säin Hond ass jonk. – His / her dog is young.

si – Hiren (formal) Hond ass jonk. – Her (formal) dog is young.

mir – Eisen Hond ass krank. – Our dog is sick.

Dir/dir – Ären Hond ass krank. – Your (formal singular & plural) dog is sick.

si (pl) – Hiren Hond ass al. – Their dog is old.

Possessive Adjectives – Neuter nouns

d’Haus – the house

ech – Mäin Haus huet kee Gaart. – My house has no garden.

du – Däin Haus huet ee Gaart. – Your house has a garden.

hien / hatt – Säin Haus huet eng Garage. – His / her house has a garage.

si – Hiert Haus huet keng Garage. – Her (formal) house has no garage.

mir – Eist Haus ass zimlech grouss. – Our house is quite big.

Dir/dir – Äert Haus ass zimlech kleng. – Your house is quite small.

si (pl) – Hiert Haus ass al. – Their house is old.

Possessive Adjectives – Feminine nouns

d’Kaz – the cat

ech – Meng Kaz ass schéin. – My cat is nice.

du – Deng Kaz ass ellen. – Your cat is ugly.

hien / hatt – Seng Kaz ass schwaarz. – His / her cat is black.

si – Hir Kaz ass wäiss. – Her cat is white.

mir – Eis Kaz ass getigeregt. – Our cat is tigered.

Dir/dir – Är Kaz ass krank. – Your cat is sick.

si (pl) – Hir Kaz ass net getigeregt. – Their cat is not tigered.

The possessive adjectives are the same for feminine and plural nouns

Zum Beispill – for example:

Meng Kazen an den Noperen hir Hënn ginn oft an eis Gäert.

My cats an the neigbours’ (their) dogs often go in our gardens.

3. Check your cases!

There’s another factor that could require you to change the ending of your possessive adjective—the sentence case. But I think this is enough for this lesson and I’ll explain this in part 2.