Moje, tvoje, njegovo - possessives in a sentence
Ten minutes putting the possessive rule to work: build three sentences that give a mother, a sister and a whole family their correct possessive - agreeing with what is owned, never with the owner - then catch the one mistake every beginner makes reaching for његов where свој belongs, before the unit's own dialogue asks you to follow the same pattern at speed.
The part of the grammar page this lesson drills — read it here, then use it.
Person-based possessives and agreement
Мој and твој decline exactly alike: мој/моја/моје and твој/твоја/твоје for masculine/feminine/neuter, моји/моје/моја and твоји/твоје/твоја in the plural. Наш and ваш follow the same pattern.
Његов (his/its), њен (her) and њихов (their) also decline like adjectives, agreeing with whatever is possessed: његов ауто, његова кућа, његово село (car/house/village) - the ending tracks the object, never the owner. Њен works the same way for a female possessor: њена кућа, њен ауто, њено писмо.
Свој - the reflexive possessive
Use свој whenever the possessor is the same person as the subject of the clause, in any grammatical person - not only the third. Марко воли своју кућу. means Marko loves his own house; Марко воли његову кућу. would mean Marko loves some other man's house.
Свој declines exactly like мој/твој and, being reflexive, never has its own separate first- or second-person form - Ја читам своју књигу. (I'm reading my own book) is just as correct, and just as common, as using моју there.
| Person | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter |
|---|---|---|---|
| ja | moj | moja | moje |
| ti | tvoj | tvoja | tvoje |
| on / ono | njegov | njegova | njegovo |
| ona | njen | njena | njeno |
| mi | naš | naša | naše |
| vi | vaš | vaša | vaše |
| oni / one / ona | njihov | njihova | njihovo |