His, Hers, or Their Own?
In English, a sentence like "John reconstructed his family tree" can be slightly ambiguous. Is it John's own tree, or another man's tree? In Romanian, if you use the standard possessives lui (his) or ei (hers), the same ambiguity exists.
To explicitly state that something belongs to the subject of the clause (meaning "his own", "her own", or "its own"), Romanian uses a special set of coreferential possessives.
Like other possessive adjectives, these words must agree in gender and number with the noun being possessed (the object), not the possessor (the subject).
Singular Objects: său and sa
When the subject possesses a singular noun, use său if that noun is masculine or neuter, and sa if it is feminine.
| John reconstructed his own genealogical tree. | Ion a reconstruit arborele său genealogic. |
Notice how in the next sentence, sa is used because străbunica (great-grandmother) is feminine.
| The girl drew her own genealogical tree up to her great-grandmother. | Fata a desenat arborele său genealogic până la străbunica sa. |
Plural Objects: săi and sale
When the possessed noun is plural, the possessives change to match: use săi for masculine plural nouns, and sale for feminine or neuter plural nouns.
| Each descendant respects his own forebears and the kin from which he descends. | Fiecare urmaș își respectă înaintașii săi și neamul din care descinde. |
Note on the Genitive/Dative: Just as the feminine singular mea (my) changes to mele in the genitive/dative cases, the feminine singular sa changes to sale.
| Maria is searching for her own origin and her great-grandmother's. | Maria caută originea sa și a străbunicii sale. |
Putting It Together
Because these adjectives strictly refer back to the subject of their clause, they are incredibly useful when telling stories with multiple characters—such as tracing ancestry or researching one's kin.
| Besides the fact that he studies his forebears, the professor researches his own kin. | Pe lângă faptul că își studiază înaintașii, profesorul cercetează neamul său. |
| Had the student found the document, he would have discovered his own great-grandfather and great-grandmother. | Să fi găsit documentul, studentul îi descoperea pe străbunicul său și pe străbunica sa. |