"Lubię swoje biurko."

Translation: I like my desk.

[polec2]

Is it unnatural to say "Lubię moje biurko"?
I understand the use of "swoje", but is it wrong to not use it to replace the subject when the subject is obvious?

[Gerardd88]

It sounds good in this case but I'd suggest to use swój whenever you can use it because in some cases it may sound strange or even be wrong.

[Bob20020]

What is the difference?

[immery]

In this sentence, between moje and swoje? None that matters. ( Moje shows a bit more emotional connection). But it sounds more awkward with twoje and wasze .

It gets complicated with his/hers/its and plurals.

[veridiandrade]

So without context we can't know whether I like my/his/her desk?

[Jellei]

We do know it, because there's always context for "swój". It's in the subject of the sentence (even if this subject is only visible from the form of the verb).

(Ja) lubię swoje biurko. = I like my desk.

(Ty) lubisz swoje biurko. = You like your desk.

(Ona) lubi swoje biurko. = She likes her desk.

(Oni) lubią swoje biurko. = They like their desk.

And so on, and so on. "swój" and its forms always refer to the subject of the sentence.

[veridiandrade]

Oh, now I see! So it's like a reflexive pronoun. Thank you!

[Jellei]

Not exactly. I mean... calling it 'reflexive' makes sense to me, but I believe reflexive pronouns are the ones like "myself", "yourself" etc. in English, so in Polish the only reflexive pronoun is "się".

Anyway, the important thing is to understand how it works, nevermind the names ;)

[duoitaliano]

"Anyway, the important thing is to understand how it works, nevermind the names".
Yes, it is important to understand how it works and I am completely lost on why swój and its forms are used instead of mój, twój, etc and their forms. Is there a section in the course that has covered this that I may go back and read again? Or can you try and explain it again here if its not too complicated?

[Jellei]

Oh, I'm afraid this course paid too little attention to them and introduced them too lately, which results in some unnatural sentences.

1. A form of "swój" always refers to the subject of the sentence. So "(Ja) lubię swoje biurko" is "I like my desk", while "(Ty) lubisz swoje biurko" is "You like your desk", "(My) lubimy swoje biurko" is "We like our desk", and so on.

2. It's probably easiest to decide that 'whenever a form of "swój" is correct, you should use it instead of the 'basic' possessive'.

3. In 1st person (I/we), the 'basic' possessive is actually fine as well. It could be "moje biurko" here, it's still correct, it's still natural.

4. In 2nd person (you) the 'basic' possessive sounds... clumsy. It is definitely better to say "Ty lubisz swoje biurko" than "Ty lubisz twoje biurko"... but it's also too much to say that 'twoje' is wrong.

5. In 3rd person (he/she/it/they) the 'basic' possessive has a different meaning (even if I can't guarantee that no native speaker would make a mistake here). So: "Adam kocha swoją żonę" is "Adam loves his wife", everything is fine. But "Adam kocha jego żonę" is "Adam loves his (some other guy's) wife", which is... at least problematic.

[immerweiter]

i like my own desk

[Jellei]

"Lubię swoje własne biurko".

[AntonAtten]

I don't get it. So; Lubie swoje biurko is: I like my desk.
How would i say in Polish; I like his desk?

[Jellei]

"Lubię jego biurko".

But "He likes his desk", provided that it's his own desk (and NOT "Adam likes John's desk"), is "On lubi swoje biurko".

[AntonAtten]

Thanks Jellei. This clearifies a lot.