Possessive and reciprocal pronouns

   |  Dan

In this lesson, we’ll go over possessive pronouns (min, mitt, mi, etc.), including a discussion on when to use “sin, sitt, si, sine.” We’ll also go over the reciprocal pronoun, “hverandre.”

Grammar Review

Sentence structure

While most Norwegian sentences use the subject-verb-object (SVO) word order, like English does, Norwegian does have the V2 (verb second) rule. If an adverbial phrase or subordinate clause is at the front of the sentence, the subject and the verb have to switch places (this is called “inversion”) so that the verb stays in the second position.

Eksempel English

SVO

Nora reiste til Tromsø i fjor.

Nora traveled to Tromsø last year.

Markus spiste pizza da han var sulten tidligere.

Markus ate pizza when he was hungry earlier.

V2

I fjor reiste Nora til Tromsøt.

Last year, Nora traveled to Tromsø.

Da Markus var sulten tidligere, spiste han pizza.

When Markus was hungry earlier, he ate pizza.

If a sentence has more than one verb, the second verb will be in a nonfinite form (e.g. å finne). If the sentence has inversion, then the subject will come between the finite (i.e. conjugated) verb and the nonfinite verb.

Eksempel English

SVO

Ella begynte å skrive for avisen forrige måned.

Ella began writing for the newspaper last month.

Oliver prøvde å male et portrett av moren sin til bursdagen hennes.

Oliver tried to paint a portrait of his mother for her birthday.

V2

Forrige måned begynte Ella å skrive for avisen.

Last month, Ella began writing for the newspaper.

Til bursdagen hennes prøvde Oliver å male et portrett av moren sin.

For her birthday, Oliver tried to paint a portrait of his mother.

Verb Conjugation

Conjugating present tense of verbs in Norwegian is fairly simple. Most present tense verbs just add an -r to the end of the infinitive.

Infinitive Present English Infinitive Present English

Å tegne

Tegner

Draws / Drawing

Å spille

spiller

Plays / Playing

Å besøke

Besøker

Visits / Visiting

Å snakke

snakker

Talks / Talking

There are some exceptions / irregulars:

Infinitive

Present

English

Infinitive

Present

English

Å kunne

Kan

To be able to

Å måtte

Må

To have to

Å skulle

Skal

To have to; to be going to

Å ville

Vil

To want

Å være

Er

To be

Å vite

Vet

To know

Past tense conjugation is a bit more difficult, however there are some guidelines (but keep in mind there are exceptions).

  1. If the verb ends with a double consonant, consonant cluster, or voiced plosive (b / d), past tense will end in -et.

  2. If the verb ends in a single consonant (except v / b / d), past tense ends in -te.

  3. If the verb ends with v or diphthong, the past tense ends in -de.

  4. If the verb has only one syllable with a long vowel, past tense ends in -dde.

Rule Number

Infinitive

Past Tense

English

1

Å snakke

Snakket

Talked

Å ønske

Ønsket

Wished

2

Å lære

Lærte

Learned

Å kjøpe

Kjøpte

Bought

3

Å leve

Levde

Lived

Å pleie

Pleide

Used

4

Å bo

Bodde

Lived

For future tense, typically the present tense verb is used with a time adverbial to clarify it is a future action. (Note: There are ways to form future sentences using modals; that is covered in a more in-depth lesson).

Eksempel

English

De spiser middag senere.

They are eating dinner later.

Spillet kommer ut neste uke.

The game comes out next week.

Adjective Basics

Adjectives typically have to agree with the gender and the number of the noun.

Singular Indefinite Plural Indefinite

Norwegian

English

Norwegian

English

Masculine

En gul banan

A yellow banana

Gule bananer

Yellow bananas

En stor katt

A big cat

Store katter

Big cats

Feminine

Ei gul dyne

A yellow duvet

Gule dyner

Yellow duvets

Ei stor stjerne

A big star

Store stjerner

Big stars

Neuter

Et gult hus

A yellow house

Gule hus

Yellow houses

Et stort jordbær

A big strawberry

Store jordbær

Big strawberries

When the noun is in the definite form, the adjective takes an -e ending (like in the plural indefinite above).

Singular Definite Plural Definite

Norwegian

English

Norwegian

English

Masculine

Den gule bananen

The yellow banana

De gule bananene

The yellow bananas

Denne store katten

This big cat

Disse store kattene

These big cats

Feminine

Den gule dyna

The yellow duvet

De gule dynene

The yellow duvets

Denne store stjerna

This big star

Disse store stjernene

These big stars

Neuter

Det gule huset

The yellow house

De gule husa

The yellow houses

Dette store jordbæret

This big strawberry

Disse store jordbæra

These big strawberries

Reciprocal Pronouns

In Norwegian, there is basically only one reciprocal pronoun that is in use: Hverandre.

This word implies that the action taking place is happening with two or more people or things. It cannot be the subject of a sentence; it refers back to plural subjects.

Eksempel

English

De elsker hverandre.

They love each other.

Stoler dere på hverandre?

Do you trust each other?

De har møtt hverandres foreldre.

They have met each other’s parents.

Possessive Pronouns

Possessive pronouns just indicate possession of something. In Norwegian, the possessive pronouns is determined by the grammatical gender and number of the noun.

English

Masculine Gender

Feminine

Gender

Neuter Gender

Plural

1st person singular

My; mine

Min

Mi

Mitt

Mine

2nd person singular

Your; yours

Din

Di

Ditt

Dine

3rd person singular

His

Hans / sin*

Hans / si*

Hans / sitt*

Hans / sine*

Her; hers

Hennes / sin*

Hennes / si*

Hennes / sitt*

Hennes / sine*

Its

Dens / dets / sin*

Dens / dets / si*

Dens / dets / sitt*

Dens / dets / sine*

1st person plural

Our; ours

Vår

Vår

Vårt

Våre

2nd person plural

Your; yours (plural)

Deres

Deres

Deres

Deres

3rd person plural

Their; theirs

Deres

Deres

Deres

Deres

Note that in Norwegian, when using possessive pronouns,

  • It is usually placed after the noun and the noun is in the definite form

  • The possessive pronoun does not change form based on its position in the sentence

  • 1st person (singular & plural) and 2nd person (singular) pronouns have to agree with the gender and number of the noun..

Eksempel English Eksempel English

1

Det er bilen min.

It is my car.

Bilen er min.

The car is mine.

2

Det er eplet ditt.

It is your apple.

Eplet er ditt.

The apple is yours.

3

De svarte kattene er mine.

The black cats are mine.

Disse gamle kartene er dine.

These old maps are yours.

4

Er det boka di?

Is it your book?

Det er boka hans.

It is his book.

5

Det er moren hennes.

That is her mother.

Dette er huset vårt.

This is our house.

6

Dette nye huset er vårt.

This new house is ours.

Gutten er deres barn.

The boy is their child.

In Norwegian, when referring to parts of the body or articles of clothing, often the definite article is used instead of the possessive pronoun, if ownership is obvious.

Eksempel

English

Han har brukket beinet.

He has broken his leg.

(Literally: He has broken the leg).

Ta av skoene!

Take off your shoes!

(Literally: Take off the shoes!)

When to use “sin, si, sitt, sine”

The easiest way to know if you should use “sin, si, sitt, sine” is ask yourself if “own” can be inserted into the sentence in English and make sense.

Ex: Hun kysser mannen sin.

She kisses her (own) husband.

This helps to avoid a lot of ambiguity that is present in English.

Eksempel English

Tobias så Karin kysse mannen sin.

Tobias saw Karin kiss her (own) husband.

Tobias så Karin kysse mannen hennes.

Tobias saw Karin kiss her (someone else’s) husband.

Jakob spiste lunsjen sin.

Jakob ate his (own) lunch.

Jakob spiste lunsjen hans.

Jakob ate his (someone else’s) lunch.

“Sin, si, sitt, sine” can also be used when there is inversion in a sentence:

Eksempel English

Til bursdagen sin fikk hun ei bok.

For her (own) birthday, she got a book.

På bryllupsdagen sin hadde hun på seg en svart kjole.

On her (own) wedding day, she wore a black dress.

I går spilte Ella spillet sitt.

Yesterday, Ella played her (own) game.

Forrige måned reiste Benjamin til hytta si med vennene sine.

Last month, Benjamin traveled to his (own) cabin with his friends.

If the possessive pronoun is in a separate clause from the subject, then “sin, si, sitt, sine” is not used. Let’s compare…

Eksempel English

Same Clause

Hun elsker mannen sin.

She loves her (own) husband.

Separate Clause

Hun synes at mannen hennes er kjekk.

She thinks that her husband is handsome.

In the second sentence, there is a main clause (“She thinks”) and a subordinate clause (“that her husband is handsome”). In this sentence, “her husband” is the subject of the subordinate clause, so therefore “hennes” must be used instead of “sin.” Therefore there is some ambiguity.

NOTE: In spoken language, these rules aren’t as strict and there are variations among dialects.

Additionally, “sin, si, sitt, sine” are not used when there are “coordinated subjects.”

Eksempel English

No Coordinated Subjects

Mari bor sammen med kona si.

Mari lives with her wife.

Tor så på filmen sammen med broren sin.

Tor watched the movie with his brother.

Per dro til stranden sammen med vennene sine.

Per went to the beach with his friends.

With Coordinated Subjects

Mari og kona hennes bor sammen.

Mari and her wife live together.

Tor og broren hans så på filmen sammen.

Tor and his brother watched the film together.

Per og vennene hans dro til stranden sammen.

Per and his friends went to the beach together.

NOTE: “Sin, si, sitt, sine” cannot be used at the end of a simple sentence.

Ex: Hvem er det? Det er søsteren til Tobias. Det er søsteren sin hans.

Who is that? It is Tobias’s sister. It is his sister.

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References:

Exercise 1: Copy and paste into a separate document and fill in the blanks.

In ( ), you will see the hint as to what pronoun to use.

  1. Emma og Emil spiller ___ (their) nye spill sammen.

  2. Morten mater hunden ______ (his [someone else’s]).

  3. Olivia sitter barnevakt for søsknene _____ (her [own]).

  4. Er disse hundene _____ (yours)?.

  5. Nils vet at moren ______ (his [own]) vil bli sint.

  6. Sofia og kjæresten ______ (her [own]) ser på TV sammen.

  7. På den nye jobben ____ (his [own]) har Isak ____ (his [own]) eget kontor.

  8. Emilie rydder opp i hytta+ _+ (her [own]).

  9. Elias vil rydde opp i hytta _____ (ours) før du ankommer.

  10. Jacob, Frida og jeg liker det nye huset _____ (their).

  11. Jeg liker bøkene ____ (hers).

  12. Mari kjøpte ei katteseng til katten ____ (her [someone else’s]).

Exercise 2: Write 3 sentences using possessive pronouns.