Breakdown of Tom legger sitt pass og sin pilleeske i samme lomme.
Questions & Answers about Tom legger sitt pass og sin pilleeske i samme lomme.
In Norwegian the reflexive possessive pronoun must agree in gender (and number) with the noun it modifies:
- pass is a neuter noun (et pass) → sitt pass
- pilleeske is common gender (en/ei pilleeske) → sin pilleeske
Reflexive forms:
• sin = common‐gender singular
• sitt = neuter‐gender singular
• sine = plural (all genders)
• sin / sitt / sine always refers back to the subject of the sentence (“his own,” “her own,” “their own”).
• hans / hennes refers to some other male/female person, not the subject.
Example:
– Tom legger sitt pass. (Tom places his own passport.)
– Hvis Kari låner boka til Lise, kan hun ikke bruke hennes notater. (Here hennes = Lise’s notes, not Kari’s.)
When a noun is directly preceded by a possessive pronoun (sin/sitt/sine, min/mitt/mine, etc.), you do not use the indefinite article in Norwegian. The possessive pronoun itself functions as the determiner:
• en pilleeske → sin pilleeske (not en sin pilleeske)
• et pass → sitt pass (not et sitt pass)
• It’s a compound noun: pille (pill) + eske (box).
• In Bokmål compounds are normally written as one word.
• The final -e of the first element (pille) is kept, and the initial e of the second element (eske) is also kept, resulting in pilleeske.
• samme = “same.” i samme lomme means “in the same pocket” (as something else).
• If you said i lomma, you’d just say “in the pocket” without emphasizing that both items go into the same pocket.
When you use a determiner like samme, you do not add a separate article or a definite suffix. So you get:
• i samme lomme (not i samme lomma or i samme lommen)
This is similar to other determiners (hver, begge, ingen):
• hver dag (not hver dagen)
• begge sider (not begge sidene)
Norwegian main clauses follow the V2 rule: the finite verb (here legger) must come in the second position.
Word order: Subject (Tom) – Verb (legger) – Object/theme – Other elements
You still follow V2, so the finite verb stays in second place. The subject then follows the verb:
• I samme lomme legger Tom sitt pass og sin pilleeske.
Not naturally, because you’re talking about two separate items of different genders. You could only use sine if you referred to multiple items collectively (all the same gender or grouped):
• Tom legger sine eiendeler i samme lomme. (his belongings)
But with specific, individually named items you match each pronoun to its noun’s gender: sitt pass og sin pilleeske.