"Is it your own dog?"

Translation: Är det din egen hund?

[lostdrewid]

Since this is a possessive, I thought we were supposed to use the plural/definite version of the adjective?

[Arnauti]

Lundgren8 wrote something good about this here: https://www.duolingo.com/comment/5659675

[lostdrewid]

Much thanks!

[Evan__Thomas]

shouldn't it be "är DEN din egen hund" since "hund" is an "en" word and not an "ett" word?

[Arnauti]

det doesn't refer to the dog. It's a placeholder pronoun, or rather, it refers to "the thing we're talking about". If we use a pronoun about pets, we normally use han or hon.

Long post about this here: https://www.duolingo.com/comment/9708920 There's an example in there about how if there's a knock at the door and you know who's there before seeing them, you would say It is my wife, not She is my wife. I think that comparison might be helpful in order to see what's going on in this sentence, too.

[MadelineMc384445]

You are so patient with us all having the same questions. Thanks for all your clarifications Arnauti!

[KaterynaB]

ert should be correct too, right?

[Arnauti]

Well, not ert, but er since it's an en word.

[libbiegraison]

It should be egna, i guess since it is a possessive adjective-like word

[Arnauti]

egen is an odd adjective. It's recommended to use the form egen here rather than egna.

[rmcclory]

does "är det din hund?" make sense or do I need the egen? it doesn't flow so well for me when i include egen!

[Arnauti]

Since the English sentence says your own dog, you need egen in Swedish too.

[Andra946801]

Why did I assume it's den and not det?

[vanessachanice]

Why egen and not egna

[unfetteredferret]

I often get tripped up by a word my brain skipped reading (and/or I did not expect there) and lose points not bc. I don't know how to say it but because I did not write it. Super-frustrating.

[CedSgm7N]

Of course, in English we would just say "Is that your dog" and not use the word "own."