"Lubię swoje biurko."
Translation:I like my desk.
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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.
"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?
Oh, I'm afraid this course paid too little attention to them and introduced them too lately, which results in some unnatural sentences.
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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.
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It's probably easiest to decide that 'whenever a form of "swój" is correct, you should use it instead of the 'basic' possessive'.
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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.
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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.
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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.