Questions & Answers about Kvinnan tvättar hans bil.
Why does this sentence use hans instead of sin?
The pronoun sin (or sitt/sina) means "his/her/its/their own" and always refers back to the subject of the sentence. The subject here is Kvinnan (The woman). If she were washing her own car, the sentence would be Kvinnan tvättar sin bil. Because it says hans bil, we immediately know she is washing a car that belongs to someone else (a man).
Why is it bil and not bilen here?
In Swedish, whenever you use a possessive word like hans (his), min (my), or sin (his/her own), the noun that follows must be in the indefinite (basic) form. Even though we are talking about a specific car, we say hans bil, never hans bilen.
If she were washing multiple cars for him, would hans change?
No! Words like hans (his), hennes (her), and deras (their) never change, regardless of whether the object being owned is an en word, an ett word, or plural. So "his cars" would be hans bilar. (Note: If they were her own cars, you would have to change sin to the plural form: sina bilar).
Is the verb tvättar in the present tense?
Yes. It comes from the infinitive verb tvätta (to wash). In Swedish, you make this type of verb present tense simply by adding an -r to the end. And remember, Swedish verbs don't change based on who is doing the action, so it is tvättar whether I wash, you wash, or the woman washes.
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