Possessive pronouns (SVFL)

Sara has a phone. It’s.. Saras telefon. Said, he has a boat, so it’s.. hans båt.

An s at the end shows ownership in Swedish, right? But if I have a car, then is it.. jags bil? And if you have a dream, is it.. dus dröm?

No, it’s not that simple. To express ownership by using pronouns, we use possessive pronouns. Think of the word: possess. It means “to own”. Possessive pronouns express ownership.

There are many possessive pronouns. Which one to use depends on two things: Who is the owner, and what is being owned. Said and Sara will give us a few examples. Said says: Det här är min telefon Min ..is a possessive pronoun that goes with the personal pronoun: I.. jag.

But it’s not the only one! Sara says: Det här är mitt armband och mina pengar Mitt, mina. These are also possessive pronouns where the owner is ‘I’. If the thing that is owned is a noun that has the article En. En telefon, Then the possessive pronoun is: min.

Such words belong to the group: utrum If the thing that is owned is a noun that has the article Ett. Ett armband, Then the possessive pronoun is: Mitt. And the noun belongs to the group: Neutrum If several things are being owned, a plural noun, the possessive pronoun is always: mina. Let’s draw a table, to make it a bit easier to keep track of it all. On the left, personal pronouns in nominative form: Jag.

And on the right the corresponding possessive pronouns: Min, mitt, mina. But what if there’s a second person singular owner, if you possess something? Det är din telefon, ditt armband, dina pengar. Din, ditt, dina. Let’s add these to the table, a second person singular owner, that is ‘you’.

The thing owned: utrum, neutrum, plural. Here they are. Du. Din, ditt och dina. What about third person singular?

Which means that the owner has one of these pronouns: han, hon, hen, den, det. When he is the owner, the possessive pronoun is: his.. hans. Whether it’s the phone, the bracelet, or the money. When she possesses something, then it is: her..

Hennes. Hennes telefon, hennes armband, hennes pengar. For the gender neutral pronoun: they, hen The possessive pronoun is: their. Hens. Hens armband.

If a thing possesses something, for instance, the phone has a screen, or the bracelet has a clasp, the possessive pronoun is: its. Dess. It’s quite uncommon, and usually only appears in writing. Listen: Telefonen är ny. Dess skärm har inte en enda repa.

Det är ett fint armband. Dess stenar är gröna. It does sound a bit old-fashioned, but that’s correct, when the owner is one single thing. Let’s add these words to the table. Personal pronoun to possessive pronoun: Han blir hans.

Hon blir hennes. Hen blir hens. Den och det blir dess. These are all the variations where the owner is singular. But what if the owner is a group?

Plural. Vi slutar tidigt på vår skola. Vårt schema är dåligt - våra lektioner är för långa. When using the plural forms, we and you (plural) the possessive pronoun depends on whether the thing owned is in: utrum, neutrum, eller plural Vår skola. Vår.

Vårt schema. Vårt. And when there are several things being owned—plural: Våra lektioner. Våra. It’s the same with second person plural: you (plural).

Jag gillar er skola. Ert schema är bra. Och era lektioner är kortare. The owners can also be a group, using the third person plural pronoun: they.. De Orättvist, på deras skola slutar de tidigt!

Then the possessive pronoun is always the same: Deras ...no matter what is owned. Let’s add these to the table: when the owner is plural. When we are the owners, it’s: vår, vårt, våra. When you (plural) are the owners, it is: er, ert, era. And when they are the owners, it’s always: deras.

Note that when the owner is in third person, the possessive pronoun doesn’t change. Possessive pronouns: pronouns that show ownership.