Swedish has three different ways to express possession and the relationships English lumps under "of," and choosing among them is one of the more reliable giveaways of a non-native. English speakers reach for av every time they would say "of" — the end of the film, the colour of the car, the roof of the house — and end up sounding translated, because Swedish reserves av for a narrow band of meanings and hands most of the work to the genitive -s, which reaches much further than its English apostrophe-s counterpart. This page is a decision procedure: given a possession relationship, which of the three strategies does Swedish actually use?
The three strategies
Swedish carves the territory like this:
- Possessive pronoun — min, din, hans, hennes, vår, er, deras, sin — when the owner is a pronoun ("my", "your", "his"): min bil ("my car").
- The genitive -s — an -s glued to the owner, with no apostrophe: when the owner is a named person or a noun, and also for an inanimate thing's intrinsic part or attribute: Annas bil ("Anna's car"), bilens färg ("the car's colour / the colour of the car").
- The av-phrase — av
- noun — mostly for partitive ("a part of") and material/measure relations, and a handful of fixed expressions: slutet av filmen ("the end of the film"), en del av kakan ("a piece of the cake").
The headline that fixes most errors: English "of X" is not normally av X in Swedish. Far more often it is an -s genitive on X, or a compound, or a på-phrase. Av is the exception, not the default. Keep that in mind as we walk each case.
Strategy 1: possessive pronoun for pronoun owners
When the owner is a pronoun — "my", "your", "his", "her", "our", "their" — Swedish uses a possessive pronoun, which agrees with the possessed noun's gender and number (this is the topic of its own page; here we just slot it into the decision). This is the most English-like of the three.
Det här är min bil och det där är ditt hus.
This is my car and that is your house. 'min' agrees with the en-word 'bil', 'ditt' with the ett-word 'hus'.
Hennes lägenhet är större än vår.
Her flat is bigger than ours. Pronoun owner → possessive 'hennes', 'vår'.
Strategy 2: the genitive -s — and how far it reaches
This is where Swedish diverges most sharply from English intuition, in two directions at once. First, the form: the genitive is a bare -s with no apostrophe — Annas, not Anna's. Swedish has never used the apostrophe-s, and writing one is an instant Anglicism. (When the name already ends in -s, -x, or -z, you add nothing at all: Lars bok, Max cykel.)
Annas bil står på parkeringen.
Anna's car is in the car park. Genitive -s with NO apostrophe: 'Annas', not 'Anna's'.
Lars syster bor i Göteborg.
Lars's sister lives in Gothenburg. A name already ending in -s takes nothing extra: 'Lars', not 'Lars's' or 'Lars''.
Second, and more important for the decision procedure: the -s genitive reaches into territory English would hand to "of." For an inanimate thing's intrinsic part, attribute, or quality, Swedish prefers the -s genitive on the thing — exactly where English would say "the X of the Y." So "the colour of the car" is bilens färg (literally "the car's colour"), not färgen av bilen.
Bilens färg är svår att beskriva.
The colour of the car is hard to describe. Intrinsic attribute → -s genitive: 'bilens färg', literally 'the car's colour'. NOT 'färgen av bilen'.
Husets tak läcker när det regnar.
The roof of the house leaks when it rains. An intrinsic part takes the -s genitive: 'husets tak'. NOT 'taket av huset'.
Bokens slut var en besvikelse.
The ending of the book was a disappointment. 'bokens slut' — the book's intrinsic part, -s genitive.
For these intrinsic-part cases there is a common and fully natural alternative using the preposition på ("on"), especially in speech: taket på huset ("the roof on the house"), färgen på bilen ("the colour on the car"). Both husets tak and taket på huset are idiomatic; what is not idiomatic is taket av huset. So the choice for an intrinsic part is between -s and på, with av excluded.
Färgen på bilen har bleknat i solen.
The colour of the car has faded in the sun. The 'på' alternative for an intrinsic attribute — natural alongside 'bilens färg'.
Locket på burken sitter fast.
The lid of the jar is stuck. 'locket på burken' — intrinsic part via 'på'; 'burkens lock' also works; 'locket av burken' does not.
Strategy 3: av — for partitive and material, not general "of"
So when does av earn its keep? Its core meaning is partitive — naming a portion taken out of a larger whole — and the related material/measure relations. Think "a part of", "a piece of", "half of", "made of". Here av is correct and the -s genitive would be wrong.
Vill du ha en bit av kakan?
Do you want a piece of the cake? Partitive — a portion of a whole → 'av'. (NOT 'kakans bit'.)
Hälften av eleverna var sjuka den dagen.
Half of the students were ill that day. 'hälften av' — a fraction of a set, partitive 'av'.
Slutet av filmen kom som en chock.
The end of the film came as a shock. 'slutet av filmen' — a delimited portion of a whole, so 'av' is natural here. (Compare 'bokens slut', where the -s genitive is preferred — the line between these is genuinely fuzzy.)
That last example is honest about a real gray area. Slutet av filmen and filmens slut are both heard; bokens slut is more usual than slutet av boken. There is no crisp rule that predicts every case — av is most secure with an explicit portion word (en del, en bit, hälften, en tredjedel, resten) preceding it, and the -s genitive is most secure for a single intrinsic part or attribute. When a quantity word leads, reach for av; otherwise lean genitive.
Av also marks material and cause (a different sense of "of"/"from"), which is unproblematic because English often agrees:
Ringen är gjord av guld.
The ring is made of gold. Material → 'av guld'. Here English 'of' and Swedish 'av' line up.
Hon dog av svält.
She died of starvation. Cause → 'av'.
| Relationship | Strategy | Example |
|---|---|---|
| pronoun owner | possessive pronoun | min bil |
| person / noun owner | genitive -s | Annas bil, lärarens bok |
| inanimate's intrinsic part/attribute | genitive -s (or på) | bilens färg / färgen på bilen |
| portion of a whole (partitive) | av | en del av kakan |
| material / cause | av | gjord av trä |
Common Mistakes
❌ färgen av bilen (for 'the colour of the car')
Incorrect — an intrinsic attribute takes the -s genitive (bilens färg) or 'på' (färgen på bilen), never 'av'.
✅ bilens färg / färgen på bilen
the colour of the car.
❌ taket av huset (for 'the roof of the house')
Incorrect — an intrinsic part takes 'husets tak' or 'taket på huset'; 'av' marks portions and materials, not parts.
✅ husets tak / taket på huset
the roof of the house.
❌ Anna's bil
Incorrect — Swedish genitive has NO apostrophe. The apostrophe-s is an English import.
✅ Annas bil
Anna's car.
❌ Lars's syster / Lars' syster
Incorrect — a name already ending in -s takes no extra marker and no apostrophe.
✅ Lars syster
Lars's sister.
❌ kakans bit (for 'a piece of the cake')
Incorrect — a portion taken from a whole is partitive 'av': 'en bit av kakan'.
✅ en bit av kakan
a piece of the cake.
Key Takeaways
- Possession in Swedish splits three ways, not two: possessive pronoun for pronoun owners (min bil), genitive -s for noun/name owners (Annas bil), and av for partitive and material relations (en del av kakan).
- The genitive -s reaches further than English thinks: an inanimate's intrinsic part or attribute is bilens färg, husets tak — not av. The common spoken alternative is på (färgen på bilen), never av.
- av is the exception, not the default for "of." It is secure mainly after a portion word (en del, hälften, en bit) and for material/cause (gjord av guld).
- The Swedish genitive has no apostrophe (Annas, not Anna's), and names ending in -s/-x/-z add nothing (Lars syster).
- The slutet av filmen / filmens slut boundary is genuinely fuzzy: lead with av when a quantity word is present, lean genitive for a single intrinsic part.
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- The Genitive -sA1 — Swedish forms the possessive by adding a plain -s to the noun — Annas bil, pojkens cykel, barnens rum — with NO apostrophe (unlike English: never *Anna's). The -s attaches to any form (singular, plural, definite), the genitive replaces the article so the phrase is automatically definite, and a noun already ending in -s/-x/-z adds nothing extra (Lars bil).
- av (of, by) and PossessionB1 — The preposition av does the work English splits across several 'of' uses: it marks the agent of a passive ('by': målad av Anna), the material or part of a whole (gjord av trä, en del av kakan), and is locked into many fixed verb combinations (bestå av, leva av). Crucially, av is NOT the default translation of 'of' — Swedish routes 'of' three ways: the -s genitive for possession (Annas bok), av for partitive/material/agent, and på for intrinsic attributes (färgen på bilen).
- Possessive Pronouns (min, din, sin)A1 — Swedish possessives split into an agreeing group (min/mitt/mina, din, sin, vår, er) that changes to match the thing OWNED — like Romance languages — and a frozen group (hans, hennes, dess, deras) that never changes. They work both before a noun (min bil) and standing alone (Bilen är min). No apostrophe, ever.
- Possessive DeterminersA1 — The words for 'my/your/his...' before a noun: min/mitt/mina, din/ditt/dina, vår/vårt/våra and sin/sitt/sina AGREE with the possessed noun's gender and number, while hans, hennes, dess, er and deras are INVARIABLE. The rule English habits keep breaking: a noun after any possessive goes BARE (min bil, never *min bilen) — no definite suffix, no front article.