Breakdown of Он ищет свой паспорт.
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
паспорт
passport
искать
to look for
свой
one's own
Questions & Answers about Он ищет свой паспорт.
Why does this sentence use свой instead of его for "his"?
In Russian, свой means "one's own". When the subject of the sentence (in this case, он) is the owner of the object, you must use свой. If you said Он ищет его паспорт, it would mean he is looking for someone else's passport.
What case is свой паспорт in here?
It is in the accusative case because it is the direct object of the verb ищет (he is looking for what?). It looks exactly like the nominative (dictionary) form because паспорт is a masculine, inanimate noun.
The verb ищет looks strange. What is its infinitive form?
The infinitive is искать (to look for). This verb has a stem mutation where the ск changes to щ in the present tense: я ищу, ты ищешь, он ищет, and so on.
Why isn't there a Russian word for "for" in this sentence?
In English, we say "looking for something", but the Russian verb искать doesn't need a preposition. It acts directly on the object, so you simply put the thing being searched for straight into the accusative case.
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