Lesson Three: Possession

Vocabulary
Grammar
Exercises

Vocabulary

när - when?
gå/ - to go/walk
åk/a - to go (by vehicle), to leave
till - to
och - and
en stad - an city (note: 'staden' is always pronounced /stan/ (long 'a') in speech)
ett hus - a house
nu - now
vill - want (followed by infinitive)

Note: The English word 'will' used to have the meaning 'to want'

Norge - Norway (remember to pronounce g as /y/)
res/a - to travel
en skola - a school
en penna - a pen
ät/a - to eat
frukost - breakfast
idag - today

När åker du till Sverige?
When are you going to Sweden?

Jag går till staden idag.
I'm going (by foot) to the city today.

Varför vill du resa i Norge?
Why do you want to travel in Norway?

Vill du äta frukost nu?
Do you want to eat breakfast now?

Grammar

Possession

Possession in Swedish is just like English. In English we add 's, as in "John's book" and "the doctor's office". Swedish just adds s with no apostrophe. Take a look:
Annes man äter lunch nu.
Anne's husband is eating lunch now.

Var är Gunnars penna?
Where is Gunnar's pen?

Vems hus är det?
Whose house is this?

Pojkens bok är inte här.
The boys book isn't here.

If a word ends in -s, -x, or -z, nothing is added:
Lars brev är från Sverige.
Lars' letter is from Sweden.

Possessive Pronouns

Swedish possessive pronuns are slighly more complicated than their English counterparts since Swedish has gender. Most possessive pronouns have three forms, one for en-words, one for ett-words, and one for plural words. For now you will just learn the singular forms:

	en-form	ett-form		en-form	ett-form
my	min	mitt	our	vår	vårt
your	din	ditt	your	er	ert
his	hans	hans	their	deras	deras
her	hennes	hennes

Note that these can also mean "mine, yours, his, hers, ours, and theirs"

Example sentences:

Han bor i mitt hus.
He lives in my house.

Har du din penna?
Do you have your pen?

Vems bok är det? Det är min.
Whose book is that? It's mine.

Jag går till hans skola idag.
I am going to his school today.

Hennes man reser till Sverige.
Her husband is travelling to Sweden.

Sin/Sitt

There is one more thing to mention about possessive pronouns, and that is the word sin (ett-form sitt). This is used in place of either hans, hennes, or deras if the possessive pronoun is referring directly back to the subject. Sin/sitt can never appear in the subject. Look at these examples (don't worry if you don't know some vocabulary):
We live in his house. ---> Vi bor i hans hus.
Their table is in the house. ---> Deras bord är i huset.
She and her husband speak English. ---> Hon och hennes man talar engelska.

BUT:

She sees her husband. ---> Hon ser sin man.
He is going to his school. ---> Han går till sin skola.
They live with their child. (ett barn) ---> De bor med sitt barn.

Note the difference:
Hon ser sin man. ---> She sees her (own) husband.
Hon ser hennes man. ---> She sees her (some other woman's) husband.

Exercises

Translate the following sentences into English:

1. Vems penna är det?
2. Det är inte vår.
3. Mitt hus är i Stockholm.
4. När reser du och din man till Finland?
5. Vill ni äta frukost nu?

Translate the following into Swedish:

6. We want to live in Uppsala (a city near Stockholm)
7. He is eating his apple.
8. I have his book.
9. Their table is in our house now.
10. Gunnil's boy wants to go to Sweden. (careful with 'to go')

Attach the correct possessive pronouns to the following nouns:
Example: bok (jag) --> min bok
11. man (hon)
12. hus (vi)
13. äpple (ni)
14. stad (du)
15. brev (han)
16. bord (de)

Click here for the answers.

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