Swedish: An Essential Grammar, 2nd edition

gifta sig (get married), raka sig (have a shave)
Själv
Själv (-t, -a) is only used for emphasis. It is not itself reflexive (cf. 5.3 above):
Jag kan göra det själv.
I can do it myself.
Killarna själva målade huset.
The boys painted the house
themselves.
Han älskar bara sig själv.
He only loves himself.
Possessive pronouns
In Swedish the possessive pronoun and possessive adjective have the same
form:
Boken är min.
The book is mine.
Det är min bok.
It is my book.
First and second person possessives agree with the noun:
Det är din hatt, ditt paraply och dina stövlar.
Third person possessives ending in -s do not inflect:
Det är hans hatt, hans paraply och hans stövlar.
5.5
5.4
5
Pronouns
82

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Reflexive possessives are given in brackets in the following table. These
forms are explained more fully in 5.6.
Non-neuter Neuter
Plural
Singular
1
min
mitt
mina
my, mine
2 familiar
din
ditt
dina
your, yours
formal
er
ert
era
3
hans
hans
hans
his
sin
sitt
sina
(see 5.6)
hennes
hennes
hennes
her, hers
sin
sitt
sina
(see 5.6)
dess
dess
dess
its
sin
sitt
sina
(see 5.6)
Plural
1
vår
vårt
våra
our, ours
2
er
ert
era
your, yours
3
deras
deras
deras
their, theirs
sin
sitt
sina
(see 5.6)
Notes:
1 Possessive pronouns have no genitive form:
min brors böcker
my brother’s books
2 Noun + ‘of ’ before a possessive pronoun in English is usually rendered in Swedish
by till and object pronoun (see 10.3.5 (1c)):
a friend of mine
en vän till mig
3 The possessive pronoun dess is reserved almost exclusively for formal written Swedish.
The definite article is often used as a Swedish equivalent to ‘its’:
Vättern och dess omgivningar.
Lake Vättern and its surroundings.
Bilen tappade ett av hjulen.
The car lost one of its wheels.
Filmen minns jag men inte titeln.
I recall the film but not its title.
4 English possessive adjectives with parts of the body, clothing, etc., are generally
rendered by the Swedish definite article if there is no doubt as to ownership: