Reflexive possessive pronouns

Listen to these two sentences: Sara äter sin macka. Sara äter hennes macka. Who’s sandwich is Sara eating? If we say: Sara äter sin macka. Then it’s her own.

But if we say: Sara äter hennes macka Who’s sandwich is it? Er, it seems it was Maria’s sandwich. Sin, hennes Both words are pronouns that express possession. But the first one is a bit special. It reflects back to the subject in the sentence, Sara in this case.

You could say it reflects possession. It’s a reflexive possessive pronoun. Sin indicates Sara, therefore. Let’s see some more examples, to make it clearer. Jag älskar mitt jobb.

Du matar dina fiskar. Han kammar sitt hår. Hon lagar sin cykel. Vi hejar på vårt lag. Ni kastar era sopor.

De målar sitt hus. The pronoun reflects the ownership onto the subject. In all these cases it’s clear who’s job, fish, or other thing is intended. But when the owner is in third person, the possessive pronoun is different from the reflexive possessive pronoun. Look at these examples: Han kammar sitt hår This does not mean the same thing as this: han kammar hans hår Hon lagar sin cykel.

In this sentence she is helping herself. Hon lagar hennes cykel Here someone else is getting help. De målar sitt hus. Here it is a group of people who are painting a house that they own. In this sentence: De målar deras hus.

Here there are two groups involved. One group who are painting, and another group who are having their house painted. Look at the table with the possessive pronouns, to see how all this works. Add three columns to the right. You only need to think about reflexive possessive pronouns when the owner is in third person.

han, hon, hen, den, det, dom. In all these cases you use: sin, sitt, sina If the thing owned is in singular and utrum: sin. Hon äter sin macka. If the thing owned is in singular and neutrum: sitt han är på sitt rum. If the thing owned is in plural: sina.

De gör sina läxor. However when the owner is in first or second person, we use the same word both as both possessive pronoun, and as reflexive possessive pronoun. Jag äter min lunch. Du äter din, vi äter vår och ni äter er lunch. So, now the table is complete.

But, language is alive, and not always as regular and strict as a table such as this tries to make it seem. Take this sentence for example: Sara kom in i rummet och såg Said vid sin dator. Who’s computer is it? Sara is the subject, and reflexive possesssive pronouns normally reflect onto the subject, so it should be Sara’s computer. But you could also imagine that it’s already understood that: Said satt vid sin dator Most often, it’s clear from the context what is intended.

Otherwise it’s better to find another way of wording it. Here is another example: Läraren lät Said hämta sin telefon från skåpet. The teacher is the subject, and Said is the object. But the phone is still Said’s, right? Not all languages use reflexive pronouns.

English for example, doesn’t. If you want, you can look back at this movie and translate the sentences into a language you know, to see what happens. Reflexive possessive pronouns These are pronouns that show possession, and most often reflect back onto the subject of the sentence. Maria äter sin ena macka, och Sara äter hennes andra.