Stressed possessive adjectives and pronouns?
I have some questions about stressed possessive adjectives and pronouns. I know the rule that stressed possessive adjectives agree in gender and number with the nouns they modify, but all the examples I find don't clarify what to do when the gender of the noun and the gender of the person don't match up. For example, "la impresora suya" means "her printer," but how can I say "his printer" if "suyo" is masculine but doesn't line up with the gender of "la impresora"? Would "his printer" be "la impresora suyo"? It is the same with wanting to describe a house-- "la casa suya" means "her house," but what about "his house"? Would it be "la casa suyo"? And for stressed possessive pronouns, would "his house" = "la casa suyo" = "el suyo"? Or would it be "la suyo"? Thank you so much for you help.
4 Answers
For example, "la impresora suya" means "her printer,"
Nope, you are extrapolating from English. "La impresora suya" could mean "his/her/their" printer. There is absolutely no indication there of the sex of the person (or people) owning the printer.
but how can I say "his printer" if "suyo" is masculine but doesn't line up with the gender of "la impresora"?
You can't. Spanish possessives simply agree with the possessed object, not with the person who owns them, like in English.
It is the same with wanting to describe a house-- "la casa suya" means "her house,"
Or "his house, or "their house". You can't tell.
La casa suya = his house / her house /their house
Las casas suyas = his houses / her houses /their houses
Basically, the number and gender agreement serves no useful purpose here, other than matching the own object. With "mío/mía/míos/mías" you know it is yours, and the four variations are there just to agree with the object(s) owned. With "tuyo/tuya/tuyos/tuyas", you know it is yours, but the four forms are there just to agree with the object(s). With "suyo/suya/suyos/suyas", you know it belong to a third person, but it could be either singular or plural, so "his/hers/theirs", with the four forms there just to allow agreement with the object(s) owned. The same goes for "mío...", "nuestro..." and "vuestro..."
If the meaning of su etc is not clear from the context of the sentence you can always use a prepositional phrase with 'de' instead of su. 
Carla busca a la hermana de él. Carla looks for his sister.
El hombre busca los libros de ella. The man looks for her books.
El hombre busca las gatas de María. The man looks for Maria's cats.
etc
The possessive adjective agrees with the gender/number of the noun not the person that it refers to.
la impresora suya refers to his or her or their (de él, de ella, de ellos, de ellas) just as it would with su. his, her, their printer
Out of curiosity what is a stressed possessive adjective? Is that any long form possessive adjective.
las impresoras suyas...still his, her, their printers
long form possessive adjectives
Possessive adjectives in Spanish, like those of English, are a way of indicating who owns or is in possession of something. Their use is straightforward, although they (like other adjectives) must match the nouns they modify in both number (singular or plural) and gender.
In la casa suya there is no possessive pronoun.
La casa es suya. would have a possessive pronoun.
el mío, el tuyo, el suyo, etc. ....are possessive pronouns. (mine, yours, his, her, its, etc. ) house of ours ( el nuestro...pronoun); our house (nuestro...adjective)
Just to be certain, when using "mio, mia, mios, mias," should my gender dictate which to use?
Always the object owned, and if you are not sure, you need to check it in the dictionary.
I am a female-- so would I say "el libro mia" or "el libro mio"? -
Whether you are a male or a female has nothing to do with the possessive. These possessives don't care what the sex of the person is. They agree with the grammatical gender of the object. If it is a bottle, then it should always be "mía"; if it is a book, then it should always be "mío"; if it is two bottles, it should be "mías", and for two books, "míos"... whether you are a man, a woman, an elf or a martian.
These possessives don't care about your sex.
