Свой - The Reflexive Possessive Pronoun - Explore Russian PDF

31/05/2020 Свой - The Reﬂexive Possessive Pronoun - Explore Russian
Home Blog VIP Programme Books & Courses About Contact Useful Links 
The pronoun свой was for me one of those things that I’ve always
tried to stay away from.
Subscribe on YouTube!
I could sense it was one of those tricky bits in the Russian grammar. Angelos Georgakis
YouTube 11K
Also, since I could use мой to say my, I always thought that свой was
something I could live without.
Ну, ладно… “I’ll look at that свой one day”, I kept telling myself.
DO YOU WANT
We, language learners, tend to procrastinate when it comes to nailing UPDATES?
down “grey areas” in a language.
Name
However, just like we should never miss an opportunity to practice
with native speakers, we should also try to attack those grey areas Email
that create discomfort in the back of our heads.
Да, очень хочу!!!
I finally took the brave decision to throw some light on свой!
We respect your email privacy
If you have you also ignored it, I think it’s time we gave it some
attention.
In the end, you’ll see it’s not that bad.


https://explorerussian.com/svoj-reﬂexive-possessive-pronoun/ 1/18
Why do we need свой?

Let’s say you have two friends, Masha and Elena. Consider the
Homein English:
following sentence Blog VIP Programme Books & Courses About Contact Useful Links 
Masha loves her dog.
Who does her refer to? It could be that Masha loves her own dog, or
her friend’s dog (Elena’s dog).
This ambiguity is solved in Russian with the use of the pronoun свой
(masculine) – своя (feminine) – своё (neuter) – свои (plural) which
means one’s own.
So, two different cases:
Маша любит свою собаку. – Masha loves her (own) dog.
Маша любит её собаку. – Masha loves her (Elena’s) dog.

The pronoun свой declines just like the pronoun мой and твой (look
further down for the declension table).
As I said earlier, every time I wanted to say my, I used мой. For
example,
Я люблю мой (свой) город. – I love my city; (both мой and свой are
OK here)
So, in sentences in which you talk about yourself you could get away
with using свой.

However, there is no way you can avoid свой if you want to say that
Masha loves her own dog!
When isHome
свой Blog
necessary and Books
VIP Programme when & Courses About Contact Useful Links 
not?
Let’s look now at all the cases one by one where we must use свой.
When the subject of the sentence is я, мы, вы, it’s not necessary to
use свой; it could be replaced by мой, наш, and ваш respectively. For
example,
Я забыл мой (свой) зонтик. – I forgot my umbrella.
Мы любим наш (свой) город. – We love our city.

Posts
Вы забыли ваш (свой) ключ. – You forgot your key.
 Beginner (5)
 Grammar (15)
When the subject is ты you can still use твой but свой is preferable.
 How to learn Russian (3)
Ты не видела свою собаку. – You didn’t see your dog.
 Imperfective and
Perfective Verbs (1)
As discussed above, when the subject is in the 3rd person (either  Interviews of Russian
singular or plural), the use of свой is obligatory. Teachers (4)

Compare the following two pairs:

 Learn Russian through
films (6)
Мария ремонтирует свою машину. – Maria is fixing her own car.
 Learn Russian through

Home её машину.
Мария ремонтирует Blog –VIP Programme
Maria is fixing herBooks
car &(someone
Courses About Contact Useful Links 
songs (9)
else’s car – obviously female because of её).
Они любят свою собаку. – They love their (own) dog.  Learning Methods (11)
Они любят их собаку. – They love their dog (it could be their friends’  My Interviews (1)
dog).
 Poetry (2)
Attention: Although you can use мой, наш, and ваш in all the above
 Talks – Presentations (1)
cases, свой is still more preferable and sounds more natural to a
native speaker!
 Uncategorized (1)
Свой and the subject must be in the  Videoblog (24)
same clause  Vocabulary (10)
As you have noted, свой refers always to the subject of the sentence.
FREE Audiobook with new Audible
Trial!
Я потерял свои деньги. – I lost my money.
Мы любим наш (свой) город. – We love our city.
Она ремонтирует свою машину. – She is fixing her own car.

Now pay attention to the following example:
Он говорит, что его сестра живет в Англии. – He says that his

sister lives in England.
In the above example, we have him and his own sister. However,
we can’t use свой as the subject he and his sister are not in the
same clause.
He is part of the main clause (Он говорит…) and his sister is part of
a subordinate clause (… что его сестра живет в Англии).
Свой doesn’t like multiple subjects

When we have a multiple subject, свой is not allowed.
When I say multiple I mean multiple nouns serving as a combined

subject. For example,
Он и его сестра живут в Англии. – He and his sister live in England.
So, although it’s him and his sister again, we can’t use он и cвоя
сестра in the above example.
More examples:
Он и его друг поехали в деревню. – He and his friend went to the

village.

Оля и её сестра живут в Москве. – Olya and his sister live in

Moscow.
Sometimes
Home we
Blogdon’t have to Books
VIP Programme use& Courses
any About Contact Useful Links 
possessive pronouns
In Russian, when there is no ambiguity, we can omit a pronoun
completely. For example,
Она любит мать. – She loves (her) mom. (It’s obvious; it’s her own
mom whom she loves.)
Она порвала платье. – She tore her dress.
Она продала квартиру. – She sold her apartment.
It is also common to drop the pronoun when we refer to parts of the

body. For example,
Она сломала ногу. – She broke (her) leg.
Он поднял руки. – He raised (his) hands.
Use свой in impersonal phrases


In impersonal phrases (in which the object isn’t specific) we use свой
to express possession. For example,
Важно знать свои корни. – It’s important for one to know one’s
roots. Home Blog VIP Programme Books & Courses About Contact Useful Links 
Надо уважать своих родителей. – One has to respect one’s parents.
You see that I did my best to express the impersonal meaning of the
phrases using one and one’s. In English, you could also say It’s
important to know your roots if you wanted to make an impersonal
statement. However, if you saw that phrase standing on its own, you
wouldn’t be certain whether just YOU should know your roots or lots
of people in general.
Свой in the Nominative Case

As you have realised, we don’t often see свой in the Nominative Case.
However, in certain Russian proverbs and idiomatic phrases that’s
possible. For example,
Свой свояка видит издалека. – Birds of a feather flock together.
Свой дурак дороже чужого умника. – Blood is thicker than water.
Своя рубашка ближе к телу. – Charity begins at home.
У нас нет от неё секретов: она здесь своя. – We don’t keep any
secrets from her; she is one of us.

Не стесняйся, здесь все свои. – Don’t be shy; Everyone here is

familiar/friend.
У него есть свой бизнес. – He has his own business (Another way to
Homeis У него
say the same thing Blog есть своё
VIP Programme
дело). Books & Courses About Contact Useful Links 
Свой – Declension Table

Case Singular Plural
masculine feminine neuter
Nominative свой своя́ своё свои́
Genitive своего́ свое́й своего́ свои́х
Dative своему́ свое́й своему́ свои́м
Accusative
своего́ свою́ своё свои́х
(animate)
Accusative
свой свою́ своё свои́
(inanimate)
Instrumental свои́м свое́й свои́м свои́ми
Prepositional своём свое́й своём свои́х
Свой – Exercise
Now’s it’s time to test ourselves. Don’t even think to skip the test! It’s
the most important part of this lesson and every lesson.
I have mentioned the importance of testing and recall practice a

million times in previous articles. You can also watch my YouTube 
video explaining that in three minutes.
In the examples below, I want you to insert свой, or if this is

impossible, a suitable possessive pronoun.
1. У Даши один брат и одна сестра. – Dasha has one brother and
one sister. Она часто говорит о ……… брате и о ……… сестре. –
She often speaks about her brother and her sister. ……… брат и
сестра живут далеко от Даши. – Her brother and her sister live
far from her.
2. Петя пошёл в гости к ……… другу. ……… друг живёт в центре. –
Petya visited his friend. His friend lives in the centre.
3. Мой брат и ……… (his) друг обедают. – My brother and his
friend are having lunch.
4. Она сказала, что ……… брат болен. – She said her brother was
ill.
5. Вы нашли ……… карточку? – Did you find your card?
6. Они потеряли ……… книги. – They lost their books.
7. Это не ……… книга. Возьми ……… – This is not your book. Get
yours.
8. Я порезал ……… палец. – I cut my finger.
9. Мы красили ……… комнату. – We painted our room.
10. У бабушки очень хорошая соседка. Бабушка очень часто
ходит к ……… соседке. – Grandma has a very nice neighbour.
She visits her neighbour very often.
11. Очень важно знать историю ……… страны. – It’s very important
to know the history of your country.
12. Лена недавно ездила в Париж. Она рассказала всем о ………
поездке. – Lena recently went to Paris. She talked to everyone
about her trip. 
13. Света любит ……… девочку. Она думает, что ……… девочка
очень умная и красивая. – Sveta loves her girl (daughter). She
thinks that her girl is very clever and beautiful.
14. Коля сказал, что ……… друг потерял ……… книгу. – Kolya said
Homelost his
that his friend Blog VIP Programme
(own) book. Books & Courses About Contact Useful Links 
15. Коля сказал, что ……… друг потерял ……… книгу. – Kolya said
that his friend lost his (Kolya’s) book.
16. Она звонила ……… другу. – She called her friend.
17. Она вытирает ……… руки. – She is drying her hands.
18. Мы идём к ……… друзьям. – We’re going to our friends.
19. Ольга не знает, что ……… муж рассказывает о ……… жизни. –
Olga doesn’t know that her husband is talking about his life.
20. Ты получила письмо от …….. мужа? – Did you get a letter from
your husband?
Answers to the Exercise

1. своём, своей, no pronoun here (it’s obvious that she’s talking
about her brother and her sister). Also, in the place of “Она
часто говорит о своём брате и о своей сестре” you can just
say “Она говорит о своих брате и сестре.“
2. своему, его
3. его
4. её
5. свою
6. свои
7. твоя, свою
8. – (no pronoun is necessary)
9. свою (or нашу) 
10. своей
11. своей
12. своей
13. свою, её
14. его, свою Home Blog VIP Programme Books & Courses About Contact Useful Links 
15. его, его
16. своему
17. – (no pronoun is necessary)
18. своим
19. её, своей
20. своего
You didn’t skip the exercise, did you? До скорого!
By Angelos | June 2nd, 2016 | Grammar | 18 Comments
Share This Story, Choose Your      

Platform!  
About the Author: Angelos

18 Comments
vminnear June 2, 2016 at 22:06 - Reply
ThanksHome
for this! IBlog VIP know
absolutely Programme
what youBooks
mean & Courses
by putting About Contact Useful Links 
off свой – it’s something I vaguely understand from picking it
up here and there, but I’ve not actually put effort into
learning when it is used… Until now!
Angelos June 3, 2016 at 15:19 - Reply
I know…Now I need to look at more grey areas…I’ve got

loads of them actually!! Any suggestions? What shall we
attack next?
vminnear June 5, 2016 at 21:08 - Reply
For me, question words and their cases. And just

all of the punctuation. That seems important in
Russian. When am I supposed to use commas??
(Okay, I’m not sure if you can fit that in one blog
post! XD)
Punctuation is a great idea; it’s been a

nightmare for me too. When you say questions
words, can you give me some examples?
Thanks, Angelos 
vminnear June 8, 2016 at 13:29
The various declensions of что and кто,

when to change question words
depending on gender, e.g. Какой/какая/
какое/какие, чем/чья/чьё/чьи… It’s just
another thing I’ve never actively sat
down to learn.
Having a look, though, I can see it’s

actually a lot more straight-forward than
I previously thought! The case
declensions on что and кто are the same
as for adjectives! So simple after all!
Angelos June 8, 2016 at 13:40
Yes, correct. Кто-кого-кому, etc. I’ll write

more articles about pronouns and provide
lots of examples. Thanks a lot Victoria!
Raskolnikov June 3, 2016 at 13:09 - Reply
Thanks, I didn’t know until now it is not allowed with multiple

subjects. I’ve made that mistake once but did not ask for an
explanation. Now it’s clear!

Great! Now you now Raskolnikov!!!
Melissa June 6, 2016 at 12:56 - Reply
Great article, complete and well-explained! Thank you!
Thank you very much Melissa! More articles explaining

difficult grammar concepts are coming soon!
Polyvios June 6, 2016 at 15:50 - Reply
Very useful and easy to follow! Thanx!
Спасибо, Polyvios! Any suggestions on other difficult

concepts?
Michael Bruck June 7, 2016 at 19:27 - Reply
Very useful indeed! Thanks!


Hey Michael, thank you very much! What shall we attack

next? Any ideas?
Home Blog VIP Programme

Michael Bruck June 8, 2016 at 18:35 - Reply Books & Courses About Contact Useful Links 
Hi,
Telling the time is difficult in Russian also the dubblewords

какое-то, что-то and many others of this kind.
Thanks
Great idea, the dubblewords!!! Ok, I’ll write about that.
Minicik tavşan June 8, 2016 at 22:00 - Reply
thank you very much you are a great teacher

me I have a biiiiggg problem with cases i wish you can
explain them like this i would understand it right theway if
you did
thank you again for you great explanation
Hey Minicik, thank you very much! I’m doing my best!

I’ll do more detailed articles on the Cases!

Leave A Comment
Comment...
Name (required) Email (required) Website
Please enter an answer in digits:
14 − 12 =
Post Comment
HERE THERE
Home Blog Books About Facebook Twitter YouTube

Contact Google+ Instagram VK

Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy
Copyright 2016 - Explore Russian


Свой - The Reflexive Possessive Pronoun - Explore Russian PDF

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Свой - The Reflexive Possessive Pronoun - Explore Russian PDF

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

31/05/2020 Свой - The Reﬂexive Possessive Pronoun - Explore Russian

In the end, you’ll see it’s not that bad.

Why do we need свой?

Masha loves her dog.

So, two different cases:

Маша любит свою собаку. – Masha loves her (own) dog.

Маша любит её собаку. – Masha loves her (Elena’s) dog.

Я забыл мой (свой) зонтик. – I forgot my umbrella.

Мы любим наш (свой) город. – We love our city.

Compare the following two pairs:

 Learn Russian through

Свой and the subject must be in the  Videoblog (24)

same clause  Vocabulary (10)

Мы любим наш (свой) город. – We love our city.

Она ремонтирует свою машину. – She is fixing her own car.

Now pay attention to the following example:

Он говорит, что его сестра живет в Англии. – He says that his

Свой doesn’t like multiple subjects

When I say multiple I mean multiple nouns serving as a combined

Он и его сестра живут в Англии. – He and his sister live in England.

Он и его друг поехали в деревню. – He and his friend went to the

Оля и её сестра живут в Москве. – Olya and his sister live in

Она порвала платье. – She tore her dress.

Она продала квартиру. – She sold her apartment.

It is also common to drop the pronoun when we refer to parts of the

Она сломала ногу. – She broke (her) leg.

Он поднял руки. – He raised (his) hands.

Use свой in impersonal phrases

Надо уважать своих родителей. – One has to respect one’s parents.

Свой in the Nominative Case

Свой свояка видит издалека. – Birds of a feather flock together.

Свой дурак дороже чужого умника. – Blood is thicker than water.

Своя рубашка ближе к телу. – Charity begins at home.

Не стесняйся, здесь все свои. – Don’t be shy; Everyone here is

Свой – Declension Table

I have mentioned the importance of testing and recall practice a

video explaining that in three minutes.

In the examples below, I want you to insert свой, or if this is

Answers to the Exercise

You didn’t skip the exercise, did you? До скорого!

By Angelos | June 2nd, 2016 | Grammar | 18 Comments

Share This Story, Choose Your      

About the Author: Angelos

vminnear June 2, 2016 at 22:06 - Reply

Angelos June 3, 2016 at 15:19 - Reply

I know…Now I need to look at more grey areas…I’ve got

vminnear June 5, 2016 at 21:08 - Reply

For me, question words and their cases. And just

Angelos June 8, 2016 at 13:12 - Reply

Punctuation is a great idea; it’s been a

vminnear June 8, 2016 at 13:29

The various declensions of что and кто,

Having a look, though, I can see it’s

Angelos June 8, 2016 at 13:40

Yes, correct. Кто-кого-кому, etc. I’ll write

Raskolnikov June 3, 2016 at 13:09 - Reply

Thanks, I didn’t know until now it is not allowed with multiple

Great! Now you now Raskolnikov!!!

Great article, complete and well-explained! Thank you!

Angelos June 6, 2016 at 12:58 - Reply

Thank you very much Melissa! More articles explaining

Polyvios June 6, 2016 at 15:50 - Reply

Very useful and easy to follow! Thanx!