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Old February 10, 2013, 06:05 PM
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AngelicaDeAlquezar AngelicaDeAlquezar is offline
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Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Mexico City
Posts: 9,038
Native Language: Mexican Spanish
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@Rusty:

@ducviloxi: I will have to disagree with the person who told you that you can't use possessive pronouns for things that cannot actually be possessed.

Your sentence is fine for me, with the correction Rusty made.

I agree with Rusty about the fact that "Mi español no es muy bueno" does sound like a calque from a foreign language, and that the other sentence sounds more "Spanish-born". But I don't find it wrong and I think anyone would understand that you don't speak the language well.
I say quite often "mi alemán es malísimo", which is mostly the same sentence, but I guess the superlative makes it sound more "Spanish".


Anyway, I don't think there can be any rule against saying things like this, because the sense of possession is quite personal:

- Quiero mi sol de vuelta. Hace muchos días que está nublado.
I want my sun back. It's been cloudy for many days.

- Cuando dejé el pueblo, se quedaron allá todas mis estrellas. Ya no puedo ver ninguna aquí en la ciudad.
When I left my home town, all my stars were left there. I can't see any of them here in the city. (Notice here that I certainly used here one less possessive pronoun, as "mi pueblo" and "mis estrellas" would mean I'm trying to grab too much.)

- A cualquier lugar que voy, parece que me sigue la lluvia. Mis amigos me dijeron que me deshaga de mi nube o no van a volver a salir conmigo.
Wherever I go rain seems to follow me. My friends have told me to get rid of my cloud or they won't go out with me again.

- En mi ciudad siempre hay embotellamientos.
In my city there are always traffic jams.

- Cuando vengas a mi país yo seré tu guía.
When you come to my country, I'll be your guide.

- (In the subway) Dale tu asiento a la señora.
Let the lady have your seat.


However, you can check this thread, where we discussed the cases when proper Spanish does not use a possessive pronoun the way English does.
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