Breakdown of Pojken glömmer sitt paraply.
pojken
the boy
glömma
to forget
sitt
his/her/its/their own (ett-word)
paraplyet
the umbrella
Questions & Answers about Pojken glömmer sitt paraply.
Why do we use sitt here instead of hans for "his"?
Because sitt means "his own". When the third-person subject of the sentence (the boy) is also the owner of the object, Swedish uses the reflexive pronouns sin, sitt, or sina. If the sentence were Pojken glömmer hans paraply, it would mean the boy is forgetting some other boy's umbrella.
Why is it sitt and not sin or sina?
The choice between sin, sitt, and sina depends on the thing being owned, not the owner. Because paraply (umbrella) is an ett-word (ett paraply), we must use the ett-word form, which is sitt. If he forgot an en-word like a coat (en jacka), it would be sin jacka. If he forgot plural items, it would be sina.
Since it is his specific umbrella, why isn't paraply in the definite form?
In Swedish, you never use the definite form of a noun immediately after a possessive word (like min, din, hans, or sitt). The possessive word already makes it specific enough, so the noun stays in its basic, indefinite form.
How does the word pojken mean "the boy" instead of "a boy"?
The basic word for "a boy" is en pojke. In Swedish, "the" is added as an ending to the noun rather than a separate word. Since pojke is an en-word ending in a vowel, we just add -n to the end to get pojken (the boy).
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