Breakdown of Trädet tappar sina grenar på grannens egendom.
på
on / at / for (wait for) / in (believe in)
trädet
the tree
grannen
the neighbor
tappa
to drop / to lose
sina
his/her/its/their own (plural)
egendomen
the property
grenen
the branch
Questions & Answers about Trädet tappar sina grenar på grannens egendom.
Why do we use sina instead of dess for "its"?
In Swedish, when "its", "his", "her", or "their" refers back to the subject of the same clause, you must use the reflexive possessive sin, sitt, or sina. Here, the branches belong to the subject, Trädet (The tree), so we use sina rather than the non-reflexive word dess.
The tree is an ett-word (Trädet). Shouldn't we use sitt?
The choice between sin, sitt, and sina depends entirely on the thing being owned, not the owner. Even though the owner (Trädet) is an ett-word, the things being owned (grenar) are plural. Therefore, we must use the plural form sina.
The word tappar translates to "drops" here, but doesn't it also mean "loses"?
Yes, att tappa means both "to drop" (like dropping a glass) and "to lose" in a physical or natural way (like a tree losing leaves or a person losing teeth). You wouldn't use it for losing a match or an abstract concept; for that, you would use the verb att förlora.
How does the possessive work in grannens egendom?
To say "the neighbor's", Swedish simply adds an s to the end of the definite noun grannen (the neighbor) to make grannens. Unlike English, Swedish never uses an apostrophe to show possession.
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