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- Topic: Swedish >
- "Han läser sin bok."
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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.
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.
There are no genders in Swedish. En and ett are just en and ett! Crazy, I know!
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.
When you learn a new noun, make sure you learn the gender of it as well.
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 :)
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?
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.
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.
This is incorrect! Search up 'Swedish to English' then type "sin". It will show up has 'It's' NOT 'his'
- 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'
Don't rely on online translating services for languages, the interface doesn't understand context so it will come out as the constant or the generic term without looking at the words around it or applying it to a phrase, changing the meaning of the words/phrase and the words used
Tru dat (its like, when will humans finally learn correct grammar and spelling, right? Lol) :)
