In Icelandic, when a third-person subject (he, she, it, or they) interacts with an object they own, you must use the reflexive possessive pronoun sinn ("his/her/their own"). This makes it perfectly clear that the subject is acting on their own belongings, rather than someone else's.
| his/her/their own (sinn, sína, sitt) | sinn |
Like adjectives, possessive pronouns agree with the noun's gender, number, and case. Direct objects, such as the items you pack or wash, take the accusative case.
Here are the accusative singular forms of sinn:
| Gender | Accusative |
|---|---|
| Masculine | sinn |
| Feminine | sína |
| Neuter | sitt |
Masculine objects: sinn
For masculine nouns in the accusative case, like tannbursti (toothbrush) and svampur (sponge), use sinn.
| He puts his toothbrush in the toiletry bag. | Hann setur tannburstann sinn í snyrtitöskuna. |
Feminine objects: sína
For feminine nouns in the accusative case, such as sápa (soap) and rakvél (razor), the pronoun becomes sína.
| She puts her soap in the toiletry bag. | Hún setur sápuna sína í snyrtitöskuna. |
Neuter objects: sitt
For neuter nouns in the accusative case, like tannkrem (toothpaste), sjampó (shampoo), and krem (cream), use sitt.
| The student does not find his toothpaste. | Nemandinn finnur ekki tannkremið sitt. |
Putting it together
When a sentence has multiple objects of different genders, the possessive pronoun must agree with each one individually.
| The boy takes his shampoo and his sponge. | Strákurinn tekur sjampóið sitt og svampinn sinn. |
Remember that sinn is only used when the subject owns the object. If you are comparing what "you" do with your things versus what "he" does with his things, you will use the appropriate possessive pronoun for each person.
| You use your soap, but he uses his soap. | Þú notar sápuna þína en hann notar sápuna sína. |