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In English "my" depends on the owner and nothing else. In Romanian meu, mea, mei, mele also agree with the thing owned, in gender and number: câinele meu - my dog, casa mea - my house, prietenii mei - my friends, cărțile mele - my books.

Neuter nouns again take the masculine forms in the singular and the feminine in the plural: orașul meu - my town, orașele mele - my towns.

His, her, their: the owner decides

The third-person words work the English way: lui means "his", ei means "her", lor "their", whatever the noun. Casa lui - his house, casa ei - her house, mașina lor - their car. So two rules run side by side: meu/mea follow the thing, lui/ei follow the person.

After the noun, with the article

The possessive comes after the noun, and the noun carries the definite article: mama mea - my mother, orașul nostru - our town. *Mea casa and *casă mea are the two English-pattern mistakes.

"Mine", "a friend of mine": al, a, ai, ale

When the possessive does not stand right after an articled noun, it takes a little linking word that also agrees with the thing: al (masc./neut. sg.), a (fem. sg.), ai (masc. pl.), ale (fem./neut. pl.).

• Cartea e a mea. - The book is mine.
• Paharul ăsta e al tău? - Is this glass yours?
• un prieten al meu - a friend of mine
• niște colege ale noastre - some colleagues of ours

The structure un prieten al meu lines up with English "a friend of mine" almost word for word, which makes it one of the easier corners of Romanian grammar for English speakers.