Questions & Answers about Var är ditt pass?
Why is it ditt and not din?
Swedish possessive pronouns agree with the grammatical gender and number of the noun they modify.
- Common gender (en-words): din — e.g., din bok
- Neuter (ett-words): ditt — e.g., ditt pass
- Plural (any gender): dina — e.g., dina pass (“your passports”)
Because pass is a neuter noun (an ett-word), you must use ditt.
How do I know that pass is neuter (ett-word)?
Unfortunately, gender isn’t usually predictable from the form of the noun. You learn it with the noun:
- Indefinite: ett pass
- Definite: passet
- Plural: pass
- Definite plural: passen Dictionaries mark this as “pass n.” or “ett pass.” The form ditt in the sentence is a helpful clue that it’s neuter.
Can I say Var är ditt passet? or Var är passet ditt?
No.
- You don’t combine a possessive with the noun’s definite ending in standard Swedish. Say ditt pass, not ditt passet.
- Postposed possessives like passet ditt are Norwegian style (and occur only in some non‑standard Swedish dialects). Standard Swedish puts the possessive before the noun: ditt pass. If you mean “Where is the passport?” (no “your”), say Var är passet?
What’s the word order here?