Who does 'sus' refer to?

Colin H.A2Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Who does 'sus' refer to?

Hi,

In the sentence, "Los pájaros son sus animales favoritos.", how can you tell who 'sus' is without a prompt?

Thanks.

Colin

Asked 4 years ago
InmaNative Spanish expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer

Hola Collin

"sus" can be referring to different pronouns: her, his, your formal, their

We always need a reference to know who the possessive is referring to. 

In the lesson we have this sentence translating sus as "your formal" as in for usted, just to show that it can be referring to that pronoun:

Los pájaros son sus animales favoritos. [Usted]

Birds are your favourite animals. ["your" formal]


But we also have this other sentence, referring to "her":

Lucía tiene sus libros.

Lucía has her books.


Saludos,

Inma

InmaNative Spanish expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer

Hola Colin

yes indeed! It could be referring to all subjects mentioned before, so:

Los pájaros son sus animales favoritos. 

Birds are his/her/their/your (formal) favourite animals.

Inma

Colin H.A2Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Thanks Inma.

The reason I asked is that the lesson states that you should be able to work it out from the context but I couldn't. Could it not be any one of the possibilities?

Regards,

Colin 

Vicki S.A2Kwiziq community member

Colín, I think "the context" refers to the rest of the conversation you are having about the birds, if this was a full discussion in real life, not anything you can tell from that isolated sentence. 

Jahar S.A1Kwiziq community member

I think sus here refers to your and its plural bcoz of favoritos is also plural. I do' know but I guess.

Jahar S.A1Kwiziq community member

I think sus here refers to your and its plural bcoz of favoritos is also plural. I do' know but I guess.

Colin H. asked:

Who does 'sus' refer to?

Hi,

In the sentence, "Los pájaros son sus animales favoritos.", how can you tell who 'sus' is without a prompt?

Thanks.

Colin

Sign in to submit your answer

Don't have an account yet? Join today

Ask a question

Find your Spanish level for FREE

Test your Spanish to the CEFR standard

Find your Spanish level
I'll be right with you...