Немно́го о языке́ 9.2 На сле́дующий день

Possessive Pronouns

Back in Уро́к 1 you first encountered the Russian possessive pronouns and used them to identify the ownership of objects. The possessive pronouns (мой, твой, наш, ваш) agree with the noun they go with in gender, number and case.  Except in the nominative and accusative cases, the endings for these possessives are similar to the regular adjective endings. Their forms are summarized in the table below.

	Masculine	Neuter	Feminine	Plural
Nom.	мой твой	моё твоё	моя́ твоя́	мои́ твои́
Gen.	моего́ твоего́		мое́й твое́й	мои́х твои́х
Dat.	моему́ твоему́		мое́й твое́й	мои́м твои́м
Acc.	nom / gen	моё твоё	мою́ твою́	nom / gen
Prep.	моём твоём		мое́й твое́й	мои́х твои́х
Instr.	мои́м твои́м		мое́й твое́й	мои́ми твои́ми

	Masculine	Neuter	Feminine	Plural
Nom.	наш ваш	на́ше ва́ше	на́ша ва́ша	на́ши ва́ши
Gen.	на́шего ва́шего		на́шей ва́шей	на́ших ва́ших
Dat.	на́шему ва́шему		на́шей ва́шей	на́шим ва́шим
Acc.	nom / gen	на́ше ва́ше	на́шу ва́шу	nom / gen
Prep.	на́шем ва́шем		на́шей ва́шей	на́ших ва́ших
Instr.	на́шим ва́шим		на́шей ва́шей	на́шими ва́шими

The possessive pronouns in Russian are not used as frequently as they are in English.  In a sentence like:

I opened my books, found my notes in my notebook, and started working on my presentation.

Я откры́л кни́ги, нашёл конспе́кты в тетра́ди и на́чал рабо́тать над презента́цией.

The Russian version does not use the word мой at all.  It would be assumed that the books, notes, notebook and presentation all belong to the subject. If they didn’t, then Russian would clarify to whom they belong. Russian uses the possessive pronouns when something needs to be explained or connected quite closely with a subject.

Упражне́ние 1. Noticing the use and absence of possessives.

Think back to the episode Лу́чше по́здно, чем никогда́, when Caitlin is writing to her teacher Mila about her travel at the New Year.  The seven sentences below come directly from the text. Do you think she included the possessive word in the sentence in her email, or did she leave it out (ø)? There are explanatory notes following the exercise if you need them.

• Explanatory Notes
  1. Caitlin uses the possessive here because Mila might not recognize the name Marat Azatovich and Caitlin wants to clarifiy what the relationship is between them.
  2. She skips the possessive here, even though we’d probably say “My host parents were leaving…” in English.
  3. She uses the possessive here to contrast her flight with the one that did get to take off.
  4. She uses the possessive here to contrast her flight with the one that will leave tomorrow.
  5. She uses the possessive here as it would otherwise be ambiguous which neighbors she means. Perhaps Mila has musician neighbors as well.
  6. She uses the possessive here as it would otherwise be unclear whether the conversation was about Caitlin's хозя́ева or the the musicians' хозя́ева (which can also mean "bosses ")
  7. She does not use the possessive here since it should be clear at this point whose parents would be waiting for her.

Свой

Required use of свой

Even though possessive pronouns are often omitted in Russian, in sentences using third-person pronouns ownership can be unclear. For example, look at this English sentence:

• John took a picture of Mike and his son.

The equivalent sentence in Russian will clarify that ambiguity by using the reflexive possessive pronoun свой to show an item belongs to the subject of the sentence, while using его́ / её / их to show an item belongs to some one OTHER than the subject. For example,

Ива́н сфотографи́ровал Ми́шу и своего́ сы́на.	Ivan photographed Misha and his own (Ivan's) son.
Ива́н сфотографи́ровал Ми́шу и его́ сы́на.	Ivan photographed Misha and his (Misha's) son.

Упражне́ние 2.

Read the English sentence and then pick the Russian sentence that best fits the context.

Implications

2. Because свой refers back to the subject, it does not have a single English equivalent. It will pick up its precise meaning from the subject. In third-person contexts this means that свой might be translated as his when the subject of the sentence is Denis; but as her when the subject is Amanda.

• Ама́нда говори́ла с Ка́тей о свое́й презента́ции.
• Amanda talked to Katya about her presentation.

• Дени́с написа́л эсэме́ску То́ни о свое́й ба́бушке.
• Denis wrote to Tony about his grandmother.

3. Although свой has to be used in third-person contexts to resolve ambiguity, it can also be used in sentences with first- and second-person subjects.  Once again, since свой refers back to the subject, it can be translated as English my, your, our, etc.

Я дал ему́ свой отве́т.	I gave him my answer.
Ты дала́ ей свой телефо́н?	Did you give her your phone number?
Мы написа́ли им свой отве́т.	We wrote them our answer.
Вы да́ли ей свой телефо́н?	Did you give her your phone number?

In the above sentences in place of свой, you can use мой, твой, наш, or ваш, although мой, твой, наш, or ваш will make the sentences more emphatic, placing greater emphasis on ownership than the same sentence with свой.

4. Because свой refers back to the subject of the sentence, it cannot be used in the subject itself. Forms of свой are impossible in sentences like these.

Вот Джош и его́ хозя́йка.	There’s Josh and his host mother.
На фотогра́фии Светла́на Бори́совна и её дочь Со́ня.	That’s Svetlana Borisovna and her daughter Sonya in the picture.
Оле́г и его́ подру́га сего́дня обе́дают в кафе́.	Oleg and his girlfriend are eating lunch at a café today.