34 Comments
I don't remember which skill it's linked to, but свой is in the notes somewhere. I don't know if I'm remembering the correct technical name for it, but it's sort of a reflexive possessive. When the person doing the possessing is the same as the subject of the sentence, it's more natural in Russian to use свой than another possessive. Think of it as 'one's own'. And it declined just like мой or твой.
Я люблю свою жену - I love (my own) wife.
Он видит своего брата - he sees (his own) brother.
etc.
I believe you can use мой, твой, ваш etc in most circumstances, it's just more natural to use свой.
(Native speakers, please feel free to correct/clarify, I just noticed this question was a week old and figured the OP needed an answer, however imperfect! :))
Not a native Russian speaker, but as a Czech speaker I think you're right. This kind of pronoun exists across the whole slavic family of languages I think. As you say, it's used when the possessor is the subject of the sentence in most case. The other personal pronouns are usually to avoid confusion in a more complex sentence, to make a contrast, etc. I assume this is the same or similar in Russian too.
Thanks for chiming in - it does, in my experience, seem to be something Slavic languages have in common, so it's good to have input from a native Slavic language speaker, albeit not a native Russophone!
It's something I wish we had in English - so useful.
If I get it correctly, I would also like to add that it's used in Swedish as well (sin/sitt).
you're right I'm not sure about special terms, but yeah, свой in many cases ia a synonym for possessive pronouns, that refers to any person, and yeah in such cases we'd rather use свой than мой/ твой/ etc. But if you say smth like "It's mine, take yours" a normal possessive pronoun is used in first case: "Это мое (мой моя), возьми свое (своего свою)", but variant "Это мое (мой моя) возьми твоего (твою)" Is also acceptible and understandable even though ppl would doubtfully use it.
Look at these examples:
Она любит её брата She loves her brother
(the brother may be hers or someone else's)
Она любит своего брата She loves her brother
(They're talking about Her own brother, with no doubt)
It is not just because they're synonyms Russian use them. Свой and all its forms are used when the suject and the possessor are the same.
I ask for you to take a look at my former post.
But be sure Russians usually (not to say always) use свой forms when the subject and the possessor are the same like in the exercise sentence.
Я и не сомневался, просто изначально имел ввиду,что если сказать "ты дал ему твой номер?" или "я люблю мою работу" это будет тоже верно и любой русский поймёт вас. P.S. For 1st, 2nd person only.
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So, What's the difference between: ''Я люблю мою жену," and ''Я люблю свою жену." I already know that there's a huge difference between: ''Он любит свою жену'' and ''Он любит его жену,'' but still I really need to know the difference between the two first examples.
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Apparently in Russian, there is a difference - "my own wife" implies a deeper connection, as is stated by BenCostell3 in the comment right above yours.
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You'd have to use твою or Вашу - the thing to remember about свой and it's derivatives is that it refers back to the subject while agreeing in gender, case and number with the object. You can't use свой to refer to something that belongs to someone besides the subject.
I love the "I love my wife"/"I love my husband" sentences. They are so nice.
So свою can mean his, her or my (something). Nothing confusing here.... And any ideas how to know which one each time it occurs?
It can also mean "your" or "our".
Basically, it means the thing belonging to the subject of the sentence.
Here, the subject is "I", so it means "my (own)".
If the subject had been "you", it would have meant "your (own)".
If the subject had been "he", it would have meant "his (own)".
And so on.
I don't remember offhand whether you can use свой with objects - I think you can, but I'm not certain enough to make a categorical statement. However, in that case it would be мой/свой дом anyway, because дом is masculine.
because when you speak about something that belongs to the speaker, you have to use this possessive, and this makes sure that is your own, and not other's
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Here's a declension table for Свой, Себя & Сам with some notes: https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/29965925
Corrections are welcome.
