Breakdown of Анна умывалась и собирала свои вещи.
и
and
вещь
thing
Анна
Anna
умываться
to wash one's face
свой
one's own
собирать
to pack / to collect, gather
Questions & Answers about Анна умывалась и собирала свои вещи.
Why do we use свои instead of её (her) here?
The reflexive possessive pronoun свои refers back to the subject of the sentence, Anna. It shows she is packing her own things. If you used её, a Russian speaker would assume Anna was packing some other woman's things!
What case is the phrase свои вещи in this sentence?
It is in the Accusative case because it is the direct object of the action собирала (was packing). For plural inanimate objects like вещи (things), the Accusative case form looks exactly the same as the Nominative (dictionary) form.
Can свои be used with subjects like 'I' or 'they'?
Yes! Unlike English, which changes the word (my own, their own), the root свой works for any subject as long as the subject owns the object. If the sentence was 'I am packing my things', you would still use свои вещи.
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