Breakdown of Chefen har anställt sin egen fru.
ha
to have
chefen
the boss
frun
the wife
sin
his/her/its/their own (en-word)
egen
own
anställa
to hire
Questions & Answers about Chefen har anställt sin egen fru.
Why is it sin egen fru and not sin egna fru?
Usually, an adjective after a possessive word (like sin, min, or hans) gets an -a ending (for example, sin nya fru). However, egen is a famous exception! It ignores the possessive word and acts like a regular indefinite adjective. Because fru is a singular en-word, we use the base form egen.
Why do we use sin here instead of hans or hennes?
sin is a reflexive possessive pronoun, which means it points back to the subject of the same sentence (in this case, chefen). If we used hans (his) or hennes (her), it would mean the boss hired some other person's wife! Using sin makes it clear that the boss hired their very own wife.
If chefen is a definite noun ("the boss"), why is fru in the indefinite form?
Whenever you use a possessive pronoun (like sin, min, or vår), the noun that belongs to it must stay in the indefinite, base form. You say sin egen fru, never sin egen frun.
What form of the verb is anställt?
It is the supine form of the verb anställa (to hire). You use the supine form immediately after the helper verb har to create the present perfect tense. So, har anställt means "has hired".
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