"Han läser sin bok."
Translation:He is reading his book.
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Would this mean "his book" in the sense that it belongs to him, or that he himself wrote it? Or are both interpretations correct?
I think a lot of people don't know what is mean't by en words and ett words at this stage and how to determine them.
I am so confused and totally lost. I understand sin/sitt for his/her/it's, but I thought that is hans and hennes and dess? Is there a native speaker here that could contact me in private?
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Sorry, there is no private contact via Duolingo, but this forum really is a quite friendly place.
I am not a native myself, but it is not too complicated, so no fear, please. It's only initially confusing a tiny little bit.
Han läser sin bok. - He is reading his (own) book.
He is the owner of the book. Sin refers to the already introduced han
Han läser hans bok. - He is reading his book.
He is not the owner of the book. Hans does not refer to han introduced as the subject. Hans resp. his is referring to any male person, but not the subject. So, it is e. g. the subject he reading a book he has borrowed from any other he then.
The set hans/hennes/dess/deras is simply called possessive pronouns while the set sin/sitt/sina is called reflexive possessive pronouns.
You will find more about it in the tips section for the Possessives skill here: https://www.duolingo.com/skill/sv/Possessives/tips-and-notes
In addition, I personally wrote some more about the topic e. g. here: https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/52524668?comment_id=52529944
Hope that helps for the moment, but please feel free to ask for more details if needed.
Regards / Hälsningar
So what ive gathered so far is that ending in "n" goes with "en" words ends in "t" goes with "ett" words. Is this correct?
When you hover over a word, all translations of it will be shown. That doesn't mean all of them will be correct in the given sentence. Sin must refer back to the subject, so above it can only mean his.
is the swedish /r/ near retroflex, or maybe post-alveolar, considering that it triggers palatalisation of /s/?
Han läser sin bok - He reads his book (his own)
Han läser hans bok - He reads his book (someone else's)
Han läser hennes bok - He reads her book
Hon läser sin bok - She reads her book (her own)
Hon läser hennes bok - She reads her book (someone else's)
Hon läser hans bok - She reads his book
Yes, definitely because it depends on the object. In this case Böcker is plural so it is correct :)
Can somebody explain to me the differences between sin sina and sitt. I'm very confused
You use "sin" för en-nouns, "sitt" for ett-nouns and "sina" for plural.
It's "sitt" before ett-nouns and "sin" before en-nouns:
Han läser sitt CV (ett CV)
Han läser sin bok (en bok)
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.
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Why the translation could not be: he reads her book? I understood that "sin" means "her" too.
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)
When do you use: "Sin - sitt - sina" And when do you use: " Hans - Hans - Hans , Hennes - Hennes - Hennes"???
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!
Wow how long did it take you to write that lol but u seem smart thx for info :)
So, Her is Hennes and Sin is His? I wish Duolingo would've provided some notes for this course.
I just listened to song Jag kommer of swedish singer Veronica Maggio and just wanted to see is there "s" pronounced as "sh" after word är, because as I learnt when there is "r" before "s", "s" is prounced as "sh", but in her song it's just pronounced as "s". I didn't hear any "sh" sound even if I reduced playback speed, it's just "s" sound to me. This 1 confuses me, am I missing something or... I would like to someone who's native or have better swedish experience/knowledge than me to explain me this!? Here is part of the song lyrics and song as well:
Ja, jag vet att hon "är söt" men håll tillbaka För jag har trillat dit, jag har fallit, jag har vaknat
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Why does it say either "her" or "his" can be used but the answer can only actually be his? Its so misleading and makes the learning even more confusing.