Unserer

Unserer is a form of the German possessive determiner unser, used to express possession by the first-person plural (we). It is not a stand-alone noun, but a declined form that accompanies a noun to mark ownership. Like other possessive adjectives, unser changes its ending according to the case, number, and gender of the noun it modifies.

Formally, unserer occurs as three distinct endings in modern German: the genitive feminine singular, the dative feminine singular, and the genitive plural. Examples illustrate its use in different contexts: for genitive feminine singular, das Haus unserer Mutter means “our mother’s house” (unserer Mutter); for dative feminine singular, Wir helfen unserer Mutter means “We help our mother” (unserer Mutter); for genitive plural, Die Bücher unserer Freunde means “our friends’ books” (unserer Freunde). In these sentences, the same spelling unserer appears in different grammatical roles, with the noun phrases determining the case and number.

Usage notes: unserer, like other possessive forms, governs the possessed noun rather than acting as a separate noun phrase. The form is common in both spoken and written German, especially when indicating close personal possession. Because the endings for genitive feminine singular, dative feminine singular, and genitive plural coincide as unserer, context and the accompanying noun provide disambiguation. Other forms of unser (such as unseres, unserer, unserem, meine, etc.) cover the remaining case-number-gender combinations.

See also: possessive determiners in German, comparison with other forms like unser, dein, sein, and ihr.