Свој and asking чији?
Ten minutes on the topic's other two pieces: свој, used whenever the possessor is the sentence's own subject regardless of person - a husband and a wife each loving своју own family, never његову/њену - and чији/чија/чије, the question word possessives answer, which agrees with the thing owned exactly like the pronouns themselves. Build sentences with both before choosing and translating your way through the rest.
The part of the grammar page this lesson drills — read it here, then use it.
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.
Чији? - asking whose
Чији/чија/чије (whose) is the question word that possessive pronouns answer, and - like који/која/које in questions-a1 - it agrees with the gender and number of the thing possessed, not with whoever might own it.
| Subject | Example | English |
|---|---|---|
| ja | Čitam svoju knjigu. | I'm reading my (own) book. |
| ti | Čitaš svoju knjigu. | You're reading your (own) book. |
| on | Čita svoju knjigu. | He's reading his (own) book. |
| mi | Čitamo svoju knjigu. | We're reading our (own) book. |