his
pron.belonging to a man or boy who has already been mentioned. You use it to show that something is owned by him.
pron.the third-person singular masculine possessive pronoun or determiner. Used to indicate possession or association with a male subject previously identified.
“He left his keys on the table.”
“The doctor asked the patient to describe his symptoms in detail during the physical examination.”
“While the architect designed the exterior of the building, his primary focus remained on the structural integrity of the foundation rather than the aesthetic finish.”
Functions as both a possessive determiner (before a noun) and a possessive pronoun (standing alone).
Learners often confuse the possessive 'his' with the contraction 'he's' (he is/he has).
For Mandarin speakers Mandarin does not distinguish gender for third-person possessive pronouns in speech, as 他 (tā), 她 (tā), and 它 (tā) are homophones. Consequently, learners often neutralize the gender distinction in English, producing 'his' when referring to a female subject.
In Mandarin, the possessive marker 的 (de) is often omitted for close relationships, such as family members. This results in the omission of 'his' in phrases like 'he loves his mother', which becomes 'he loves mother'.
For Japanese speakers Japanese lacks the /h/ phoneme before /i/, substituting the voiceless palatal fricative /ç/. Consequently, 'his' /hɪz/ is often produced as /çiːzɯ/ with a high-tongue position and an epenthetic vowel.
Japanese possessives use the particle 'no' (の) for both adjectives and pronouns. Because 'kare no' (彼の) translates to both 'his' (determiner) and 'his' (pronoun), learners may fail to distinguish between 'his book' and 'it is his' in syntax.