LingoflyMoj, tvoj, njegov, njen — and svoj, which you can't do without
Possessives work like adjectives and follow the thing, not the owner: moj brat, moja sestra, moje darilo, pri mojem bratu. The root names the owner, the ending follows the thing. For example: “Pozabil sem svoj polnilec doma” — I forgot my charger at home. A rule from the Slovenian course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
Possessives work like adjectives and follow the thing, not the owner: moj brat, moja sestra, moje darilo, pri mojem bratu. The root names the owner, the ending follows the thing.
News for an English speaker: njegov and njen change as well. 'His' and 'her' are frozen in English; these two live a full life: njegova hčerka, njenega brata, z njenim avtom.
Two owners have their own words: najin — of us two, vajin — of you two, njun — of those two. Njun otrok is the child of that pair; njihov otrok belongs to a bigger crowd.
The key word is svoj. You need it wherever the owner is also the one acting: Vzel je svoj kovček — he took his own case. Say njegov kovček and the case turns out to be somebody else's.
Table
| who | possessive | example |
|---|---|---|
| I | moj | moj konjiček |
| you | tvoj | tvoja soba |
| he | njegov | njegov brat |
| she | njen | njena teta |
| we two | najin | najin sosed |
| you two | vajin | vajina hiša |
| they two | njun | njun otrok |
| they | njihov | njihovo dvorišče |
| the doer’s own | svoj | vzel je svoj kovček |
By example
How the rule settles in your head
A rule is not memorized from an explanation. It is memorized from an attempt to use it and a mistake — that is why the app delivers it mixed in with words, not as a separate lesson: it resurfaces exactly where you forgot it.
Frequently asked
What svoj is for in Slovenian?
News for an English speaker: njegov and njen change as well. 'His' and 'her' are frozen in English; these two live a full life: njegova hčerka, njenega brata, z njenim avtom.
Njegov vs svoj?
The key word is svoj. You need it wherever the owner is also the one acting: Vzel je svoj kovček — he took his own case. Say njegov kovček and the case turns out to be somebody else's.
Najin, vajin and njun: our for two in Slovenian?
Two owners have their own words: najin — of us two, vajin — of you two, njun — of those two. Njun otrok is the child of that pair; njihov otrok belongs to a bigger crowd.
Do njegov and njen decline in Slovenian?
News for an English speaker: njegov and njen change as well. 'His' and 'her' are frozen in English; these two live a full life: njegova hčerka, njenega brata, z njenim avtom.
What does it look like in a Slovenian example sentence?
“Pozabil sem svoj polnilec doma” — I forgot my charger at home. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.