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- "Han läser sin bok."
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1453
Unfortunately the genders in Swedish are pretty unpredictable. Here's a link to a post that mentions some tendencies, but basically your best bet is just to learn the gender along with each new word.
One thing I've found that really helps me with this is to try to learn the word in the definite form, rather than in the indefinite form. For example: flicka (girl) - I learn it as 'flickan' (the girl) ... or ... hus (house) - I learn it as 'huset' (the house)
That helps me to get the gender and endings thoroughly attached to the word.
My mind is officially blown! I would kindly ask for an explanation: what the heck are sin/sitt/sina now >.< in last lessons it has ben said that, for example, 'han' uses 'hans', 'de' uses 'din/dit/dina'.... so while reading comments I came to conclusion that difference in sin/sit/sina and all the others from past 2 lessons (min/mitt/mina/din/dit/dina/vår/vårt/våra/er/ert/era/deras/hans/hennes) is in that: sin/sitt/sina 1. Can go with either jag/du/ni/vi/de/det 2. Mean that subject posses THEIR OWN stuff; and all the rest from past 2 lessons: 1. Go with each of these things (example: jag-min/mitt, de-ditt/dina...) 2. mean that subject has somebody else's possesion??? Am I right? And if i'm not, can any1 PLEASE clear this out for me <3 P.s. sorry for bad english.
He reads her book = han läser hennes bok
The pronoun 'sin' can only be used to refer to the possession of the subject: He reads his book = han läser sin bok It means John reads the book that belongs to John.
On the other hand: He reads his book = han läser hans bok Meaning: John reads the book that belongs to Ben
You cannot use 'sin' to say that X reads Y's book, and if you have different genders, it is clear that there are two different people (at least)
You use 'sin, sitt, sina' in 4 cases:
1- a man called X does the verb to #, and # belongs to X. Example: X läser sin bok. 2- a woman called Y does the verb to #, and # belongs to Y. Example: Y älskar sitt barn. 3- a non-human called Z does the verb to #, and # belongs to Z. Example: Z (the name of my horse) äter sina äpplen. 4- a group called G do the verb to #, and # belongs to G. Example: X&Y tycker om sin hund.
You use 'hans' when X does the verb to #, # belong(s) to Y, Y is a male, and Y is not the same person as X. It doesn't matter whether # is singular or plural, and is doesn't matter whether it is common or neuter (en or ett). Examples: - Y är en man, X dricker hans olja. The oil belongs to Y - Y är en man, X älskar hans djur The animal belongs to Y - Y är en pojke, X äter hans äpplen The apples belong to Y
You use 'hennes' the same way as 'hans', but when Y is a female.
You use 'deras' the same way as 'hans', but when Y is a group (plural) of humans. (Not sure about a group of non-humans).
You use 'dess' the same way as 'hans', but when Y is a singular non-human. (Not sure about plural non-humans).
Hope it was useful!
1453
sin can mean 'his', 'hers', 'its', or 'theirs', depending on the subject. sin is a reflexive possessive pronoun that refers back to a subject in the third person:
han läser sin bok = 'he reads his (own) book'
hon läser sin bok = 'she reads her (own) book'
roboten läser sin bok = 'the robot reads its (own) book'
de läser sina böcker = 'they are reading their (own) books'