Possessives: min, din, sin
Possessives show who something belongs to. Many of them change with the gender of the noun.
We teach Bokmål, the written standard most people in Norway use.
What is this about?
Possessives show who something belongs to: my car, your jacket, our flat. You'll use them all the time when you talk about your family, your home and your things.
In Norwegian the possessive usually comes after the noun, and the noun is in the definite form: «bilen min» (my car), «huset mitt» (my house), «barna våre» (our children). The word changes with the gender of the thing owned, not with the owner: «bilen min», «hytta mi», «huset mitt», «skoene mine». If you put it in front, you stress it: «Det er min bil, ikke din!» (It's MY car, not yours!)
English always puts «my» first. Norwegian prefers «bilen min» – literally «the car my». Norwegian also has a special word, «sin», that points back to the subject of the sentence: «Per vasker bilen sin» means Per washes his own car, while «bilen hans» would be someone else's.
Rules
- min/mi/mitt/mine (my), din/di/ditt/dine (your), vår/vårt/våre (our), deres (your pl., their), hans (his), hennes (her).
- Usually the possessive comes after the noun in the definite form: bilen min (my car), huset mitt, bøkene våre.
- Before the noun it is stressed: Det er min bil, ikke din! (It's MY car, not yours!)
- Sin/si/sitt/sine refers back to the subject: Per vasker bilen sin (his own car). Per vasker bilen hans (another man's car).
Examples
- Dette er huset mitt.This is my house.
- Hvor er nøklene dine?Where are your keys?
- Anna besøker moren sin.Anna is visiting her (own) mother.
- Sønnen vår begynner på skolen i høst.Our son starts school this autumn.
- Har du sett telefonen min? Jeg fant den ikke i jakka.Have you seen my phone? I couldn't find it in my jacket.
- Ola og Kari leier ut hytta si i juli.Ola and Kari rent out their cabin in July.
- Er dette ditt eller mitt glass?Is this your glass or mine?