Norwegian possessives do double duty. The same words — min, din, hans, vår — work both as determiners inside a noun phrase (boka mi, "my book") and as standalone pronouns (boka er mi, "the book is mine"). This page gives you the complete paradigm, shows how the words stand alone, and then spends most of its space on the single hardest thing in the whole system: the contrast between sin (one's own) and hans/hennes/deres (someone else's). That distinction has no English equivalent, it trips up learners for years, and getting it right is what separates fluent Norwegian from translated English.
The full paradigm
There is a deep split running through this table. The first- and second-person possessives — plus vår — agree with the possessed noun. The third-person ones — hans, hennes, dens, dets, deres — are frozen and never change.
| Owner | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| my | min | mi / min | mitt | mine |
| your (sg.) | din | di / din | ditt | dine |
| his | hans (invariable) | |||
| her | hennes (invariable) | |||
| its (m./f. ref.) | dens (invariable) | |||
| its (n. ref.) | dets (invariable) | |||
| our | vår | vår | vårt | våre |
| your (pl.) / their | deres (invariable) | |||
So you must say mitt hus (neuter) and mine bøker (plural), changing the form — but huset hans and bøkene hans keep hans identical. English has no such split: my is as invariable as his. Norwegian makes you do agreement work for the first two persons and then, mercifully, none for the third.
Huset mitt er nyere enn huset hans.
My house is newer than his house. ('mitt' agrees, 'hans' is frozen)
Bilen hans er rød, men bilen hennes er blå.
His car is red, but her car is blue. (both third-person possessives invariable)
Vårt land er lite, men våre fjell er høye.
Our country is small, but our mountains are high. ('vårt' neuter, 'våre' plural)
Standalone use: den er min
When the possessive stands alone, replacing the whole noun phrase, it still agrees with the noun it refers back to. English switches to a special set here — mine, yours, his, ours, theirs — but Norwegian just reuses the same possessive, agreeing with the understood noun.
Den boka er ikke di — den er mi.
That book isn't yours — it's mine. (feminine 'bok' → 'di', 'mi')
Hvem sin sekk er dette? — Den er min.
Whose backpack is this? — It's mine. ('sekk' masculine → 'min')
Disse skoene er dine, de der borte er mine.
These shoes are yours, those over there are mine. (plural → 'dine', 'mine')
Because the possessive carries its own agreement, the gender of the omitted noun still shows: den er mi tells you the thing is feminine (ei bok, ei jakke), while det er mitt tells you it is neuter. That is information an English "it's mine" simply throws away.
The genitive-of-name alternative
Norwegian also forms possession with a plain -s on a name or noun — no apostrophe — and this is often the most natural way to say "X's thing": Olas bil (Ola's car), Norges hovedstad (Norway's capital). This -s genitive normally preposes and takes an indefinite noun, exactly like a preposed possessive: Karis hund (Kari's dog), not Karis hunden. It is covered in full on the genitive -s page; meet it here just as a reminder that hans/hennes is not your only tool for third-person possession.
Karis hund er snillere enn katten min.
Kari's dog is friendlier than my cat. (genitive -s: 'Karis hund', indefinite)
The big one: sin versus hans/hennes/deres
Now the heart of the page. Norwegian has a special reflexive possessive — sin / si / sitt / sine — that means "his/her/their own," referring back to the subject of the same clause. When the possessor is the subject, you use sin. When the possessor is someone else, you use hans/hennes/deres. English collapses both into "his," "her," "their," and so cannot see the difference at all.
Compare these two sentences, identical except for one word:
Han tok jakken sin.
He took his (own) jacket. — the jacket belongs to him, the subject.
Han tok jakken hans.
He took his jacket — but someone ELSE's jacket (another man's).
In the first, sin points back to han: he took his own jacket. In the second, hans points to a different man whose jacket he grabbed. English "he took his jacket" is genuinely ambiguous; Norwegian forces you to choose, and the choice carries real meaning. This is why getting sin wrong doesn't just sound off — it can change who owns what.
The rule, stated cleanly:
- The possessor is the subject of the clause → use sin/si/sitt/sine.
- The possessor is anyone other than the subject → use hans/hennes/deres.
Sin also agrees with the possessed noun, just like min: sin (m.), si/sin (f.), sitt (n.), sine (pl.).
Hun glemte vesken sin på toget.
She forgot her (own) bag on the train. (subject 'hun' owns it → 'sin')
Hun fant vesken hennes under setet.
She found her bag under the seat — another woman's bag. (different owner → 'hennes')
Barna pusset tennene sine før de la seg.
The children brushed their (own) teeth before going to bed. (subject 'barna' → 'sine')
Per snakket med læreren sin om karakterene sine.
Per talked to his (own) teacher about his (own) grades. (both refer back to subject Per → 'sin', 'sine')
Why sin only works for the subject — and the trap
The deep logic is that sin is reflexive: like a mirror, it bends back to the subject of its own clause. That is also its limitation. Sin can never itself be the subject or part of the subject — a thing cannot reflexively own its way into being the doer. So in a sentence like "His car is red," where the car is the subject, you cannot use sin; you must say bilen hans er rød. Norwegian only lets sin appear in the object or in a prepositional phrase, pointing back to a subject that came earlier.
❌ Sin bil er rød.
Impossible — 'sin' can't sit in the subject. Say 'Bilen hans er rød'.
Bilen hans er rød, og han elsker bilen sin.
His car is red, and he loves his car. (subject 'bilen hans' uses 'hans'; object 'bilen sin' uses 'sin')
There is a second subtlety worth flagging honestly: in the third-person plural, both deres and sine exist, and the choice still follows the same subject rule — De solgte huset sitt (they sold their own house) versus De solgte huset deres (they sold someone else's house). The trap is that deres is so common as plain "their" that learners reach for it even when the owners are the subject. If the owners are the subject, it must be sine/sitt.
De inviterte naboene sine på middag.
They invited their (own) neighbours to dinner. (subject 'de' owns the relationship → 'sine')
Common Mistakes
Using hans/hennes where the owner is the subject. The classic transfer error: English "his" maps to hans automatically, even when sin is required.
❌ Han elsker konen hans.
Incorrect (or means another man's wife) — subject owns her: 'konen sin'.
✅ Han elsker kona si.
He loves his (own) wife.
Not agreeing min/mitt/mine. Treating min as invariable English my and skipping the neuter/plural forms.
❌ Det er min hus, og der er min bøker.
Incorrect — neuter 'mitt hus', plural 'mine bøker'.
✅ Det er mitt hus, og der er bøkene mine.
That's my house, and there are my books.
Putting sin in the subject. Sin is reflexive and can never be (part of) the subject of its clause.
❌ Sin telefon ringte hele natta.
Impossible — use 'hans/hennes': 'Telefonen hans ringte hele natta'.
✅ Telefonen hans ringte hele natta.
His phone rang all night long.
Defaulting to deres for the subject's own thing. In the plural, the subject's own possession is sine/sitt, not deres.
❌ Studentene leverte oppgavene deres for sent.
Incorrect (or means someone else's papers) — subject owns them: 'oppgavene sine'.
✅ Studentene leverte oppgavene sine for sent.
The students handed in their (own) papers too late.
Inventing an English-style standalone form. There is no separate "mine/yours" set — you reuse min/di/mitt, still agreeing.
❌ Den jakka er mins.
No such word — the standalone form is the agreeing possessive: 'Den jakka er mi'.
✅ Den jakka er mi.
That jacket is mine.
Key Takeaways
- min/din/vår agree (min/mitt/mine…); hans/hennes/dens/dets/deres are frozen — a split English doesn't have.
- The same possessives work standalone (den er mi), still showing the referent's gender.
- sin/si/sitt/sine = the owner is the subject of the clause ("his/her/their own); hans/hennes/deres = a different owner. English can't see this difference; Norwegian forces it.
- sin is reflexive: it can never be the subject (Bilen hans er rød, never sin bil er rød), and in the plural the subject's own thing is sine/sitt, not deres.
- The deeper mechanics of sin — embedded clauses, coordination, infinitives — get their own treatment on the reflexive possessive page.
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Start learning Norwegian→Related Topics
- sin vs hans/hennes: The Reflexive PossessiveB1 — The classic Scandinavian trap: sin/si/sitt/sine refers possession back to the SUBJECT of the clause (han tok jakken sin = his own jacket), while hans/hennes/deres points to someone else (jakken hans = another man's). sin agrees with the possessed noun's gender and number, never the owner, and can never be part of the subject — two rules English has no analogue for.
- Possessive Determiners and Their PositionA2 — Norwegian possessives like min/mitt/mine agree with the possessed noun and sit most naturally AFTER it — 'bilen min', 'boka mi', 'huset mitt' — with the definite noun, the opposite of the English order learners reach for.
- The Genitive -s and PossessionA2 — Norwegian shows possession with a bare -s and NO apostrophe (Olas bil, barnets leke) — apostrophe only after a final s/x/z (Anders' hus) — while everyday speech often prefers a til-phrase (bilen til Ola).
- Reflexive Pronouns: meg, deg, segA2 — Norwegian reflexives copy the object pronouns in the 1st/2nd person (meg, deg, oss, dere) but use a dedicated word — seg — in the entire 3rd person, so 'han vasker seg' (washes himself) and 'han vasker ham' (washes another man) are different sentences English can't keep apart without -self.