# whose

Pronunciation: say "HOOZ" /huːz/

## Determiner

1. Used to introduce a clause about something that belongs to or relates to the person or thing just mentioned.
   - Simple: Used to say something belongs to or is connected with the person or thing just mentioned.
   - _We thanked the neighbor whose ladder we borrowed._
   - _The singer, whose voice was failing, cut the show short._
2. Used in questions to ask which person or people something belongs to.
   - Simple: Asks which person a thing belongs to, in a question.
   - _Whose idea was the picnic?_
   - _In whose name is the booking?_

## Pronoun

3. Used on its own in a question, with no noun after it, to ask which person's thing is meant, as in 'This bag isn't mine. Whose is it?'
   - Simple: Asks which person's thing is meant, with no noun after it.
   - _That is a lovely garden. Whose is it?_
   - _Whose are these keys on the counter?_

## Origin

Proto-Germanic "*hwes," the genitive (possessive) case of "*hwaz" ("who") and "*hwat" ("what"), became Old English "hwæs" and then Middle English "whos."

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/whose (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).