Breakdown of Snickaren behöver sina verktyg.
behöva
to need
sina
his/her/its/their own (plural)
snickaren
the carpenter
verktyget
the tool
Questions & Answers about Snickaren behöver sina verktyg.
The lesson is about the genitive '-s'. Could we say snickarens here instead of sina?
Not in this exact sentence structure. If you just said snickarens verktyg, it would mean 'the carpenter's tools' as a standalone phrase. But because the carpenter is the subject doing an action (needing), we must use a possessive pronoun (sina) to say he needs 'his own' tools.
Why does this sentence use sina instead of hans for 'his'?
Sina is a reflexive possessive pronoun that means 'his own', 'her own', or 'their own' and refers back to the subject of the sentence. If we used hans (his) here, it would actually mean the carpenter needs a different man's tools!
Why do we use sina instead of sin or sitt?
The choice between sin, sitt, and sina depends on the noun that is owned. Since verktyg (tools) is plural in this context, we use the plural form sina.
How can you tell verktyg is plural? It looks just like the singular word for 'tool'.
You are right! Ett verktyg (a tool) is an ett word that ends in a consonant. These types of words look exactly the same in the plural (tools). We know it is plural in this sentence because it follows sina, which is only used for plural nouns.
The word for a carpenter is en snickare. Why does 'the carpenter' only get an '-n' at the end (snickaren) instead of '-en'?
Because snickare already ends in a vowel. For en words that end in a vowel, you just add an '-n' to make them definite (the carpenter), rather than adding '-en' which would create an awkward double vowel.
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