Possessive pronouns

Swedish possessive pronouns work a bit like adjectives. They adjust to the gender and number of the noun that is possessed.

Example:
Jag köpte ett äpple. Nu är det mitt äpple.
I bought an apple. Now it’s my apple.

Explanation:
The personal pronoun jag has as possessive counterpart the pronoun min. The word äpple however is an ett-word which changes the pronoun to mitt.

More examples:
Han gillar ditt hus.
He likes your house.

Sven älskar våra barn.
Sven loves our children.

Lina dricker er juice.
Lina is drinking your juice.

Reflexive and not reflexive possessive pronouns

In third person singular and plural we differentiate between reflexive and not reflexive possessive pronouns. Reflexive means that the pronoun is pointing back to the subject of the sentence.

Examples:
Emil leker med sin boll.
Emil is playing with his (own) ball.

Explanation:
Emil is the subject of this sentence. The ball belongs to him, the subject. In this case we need to use the pronounce sin.

Sin is changing like min or din

The non reflexive possessive pronoun is needed when the owner of the object isn’t the subject.

Example:
Martin har en boll. Emil leker med hans boll.
Martin has got a ball. Emil is playing with his (Martin’s) ball.

We differentiate between the genders of the owner. If the owner is male (like Martin) we need to use hans. If the owner is female (like Eva) we need to use hennes. If we are talking about let’s say an inanimate object, we need to use dess (its). In third person plural we use deras. It doesn’t matter if the group of people are females or males in this case.

Compare the following sentences:
Göran äter sitt äpple. / Göran äter hans äpple.
Göran is eating his (own) apple. / Göran is eating his (e.g. Sven’s) apple.

Explanation:
In the first sentence, the apple belongs to Göran and in the second one it belongs to a colleague. At least not Göran.

Hans, hennes and deras need to be used when we are using it together with the subject or the second part of the subject.

Example:
Emil och hans syster äter lunch.
Emil and his sister are having lunch.

Explanation:
Hans syster is the second part of the subject. They are both the subject of the clause, since they are both performing the action. Emil och sin syster äter lunch would be wrong here.

You also need to use this common pronoun (and not the reflexive counterpart) when talking about the subject of an auxiliary clause.

Example:
Emil säger att hans syster sjunger.
Emil says that his sister sings.

Explanation:
The att shows you that this is an auxiliary clause. Here you cannot use sin syster. The reflexive pronoun only works as the object in a sentence.