"Su"

Hi,

I'm learning Spanish from a book by Charles Berlitz, and I've run into something I don't quite understand.

The word "su" - denoting possession is used for all the English words: your, his, her, its and theirs. This confuses me because if (as in the example in the book) I was to say, "Ella es su esposa." (translated as "She is his wife"), how am I to know whether the "su" in that sentence means his, hers, your, its or theirs?

In other words, couldn't that same sentence be translated as "She is your wife"? or any of the other variations of "su"?

Muchas Gracias. I appreciate the help.

Hello G-tarist and welcome to the forums! :)

"She is his wife" - Could be translated as "Ella es la mujer de él" but it would sound VERY weird.    You will always know who "su" is referring to, there will always be something in the text that will let you know.

- ¿Ves al señor de la corbata roja?
- Sí, creo que sí, ¿te refieres al que tiene una copa de vino el la mano?
- Ese mismo. Me han llegado rumores de que su mujer le ha engañado.

That "su" over there is referring to the man.       "Me han llegado rumores de que la mujer de él lo ha engañado"   --> This sounds awful but it means that.

Did that help you?

IN the third sentence : Ella es su esposa, the pronoun Ella (referring to a woman) helps us because it gives us indication of what gender (masculine or feminine) SU is. Like Pucca correctly indicated su is used instead of de él.

Ella es la esposa de él. Translating it literally, this sentence means : She is the wife of him. Sounds weird doesn't it?

If we substitute de él for su, the sentence will read

Ella es su esposa. She is his wife.

By the way, su is also used as your (possessive). But if that confuses you, leave it aside for now. It's better to learn one thing well, than 5 so and so.

Ex: His book (Su libro). The possessive Su (your) is formal. Este es su libro, Señora García (This is YOUR book, Mrs.García)

Hope this has clarified your doubts.

Sorry, my fault. I think I explained myself badly. What I meant was that SU (possessive) can mean either YOUR/HIS/HER

In the sentence SU LIBRO, we don't know anything about the book's owner, so SU can mean his or her (both are good)

In the sentence ESTE ES SU LIBRO, SEñORA GARCíA, SU IS THE FORMAL YOU

Hope it's clear now. Sorry again

Read this. I hope it clear something (I've translated the introduction):

Un jefe contrató a un detective para saber que hacía uno de sus empleados, que se iba del trabajo unas horas todos los días. Después de una semana, lo llamó a su despacho.

A boss recruit a detective to know what one of his employees did, because he was out of the work everyday for a few hours. After a week, the boss called him to his office.

- Bien, Marlowe, ¿qué ha averiguado?

- El tipo coge su coche, se va a su casa, se hace un bocadillo de su jamón, le hace el amor a su mujer, se fuma uno de sus puros y vuelve al trabajo.

- Ah, entonces me parece bien.

- Perdone, ¿puedo tutearle?

- Si, claro.

- Pues mira, el tío coge tu coche, se va a tu casa, se hace un bocadillo de tu jamón, le hace el amor a tu mujer, se fuma uno de tus puros, y vuelve al trabajo. ¿Te sigue pareciendo bien?