Possessive Pronouns Study Guide

Overview

Norwegian Possessive Pronouns

This guide teaches ownership forms such as sin, si, sitt, sine, hans, and hennes.

Level 1

Who owns it

Sin points back to the subject. Hans and hennes point to someone else.

sin

same subject owns it

Kari tar veska si.

Kari takes her own bag.

hennes

someone else owns it

Kari tar veska hennes.

Kari takes another woman's bag.

First identify the subject

Use sin/si/sitt/sine when the subject owns the item. Use hans/hennes/deres when the owner is someone else mentioned in the context.

Examples

Kari tar veska si.

Kari takes her own bag.

Kari tar veska hennes.

Kari takes another woman's bag.

Level 2

Sin, si, sitt, sine

The reflexive form agrees with the thing being owned.

sin

en-ord

bilen sin

si

ei-ord

boka si

sitt

et-ord

huset sitt

sine

plural

nøklene sine

Agreement follows the owned noun

The reflexive possessive does not agree with the owner. It agrees with the thing owned: bilen sin, boka si, huset sitt, bøkene sine.

Level 3

Multiple people

When more than one person is mentioned, identify the subject first.

Erik has a car. Maria is looking at it.

Maria ser bilen hans.

Erik has a car. Erik is washing it.

Erik vasker bilen sin.

Do not choose the nearest person automatically

In a sentence with several people, identify the grammatical subject and then ask whether that subject owns the noun. English context should make the ownership relation explicit.

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