Pronouns

Personal Pronouns

Subject form

Jag - I
Du - You (sing.)
Hon - She
Han - He
Den - It (en-words)
Det - It (ett-words)
Vi - We
Ni - You (pl.)
De [dohm] - They

*hen - gender neutral pronoun that is an alternative to gender-specific hon/han

Examples:

  1. Jag heter Eva. - My name is Eva
  2. Du äter ett äpple. - You eat (are eating) an apple.
  3. Hon springer. - She runs (is running).
  4. Här är en bok. Den är min. - Here is a book. It is mine.
  5. Vi bor i ett hus. Det är vårt hus. - We live in a house. It is our house.
Object form

Jag → mig [mey] - me
Du → dig [dey] - you (sing.)
Hon → henne - her
Han → honom - him
Den → den - it
Det → det - it
Vi → os - us
Ni → er - you (pl.)
De → dem [dohm] - them

Examples:

  1. Han älskar henne. - He loves her.
  2. Jag vill se dem. - I want to see them.
  3. Vi inbjuder dig. - We invite you.

Personal Pronouns

Jag → mig - myself
Du → dig - yourself
Hon → sig - herself
Han → sig - himself
Den → sig - itself
Det → sig - itself
Vi → oss - ourselves
Ni → er - yourselves
De → sig- themselves

Certain verbs have a reflexive pronoun, for instance:
Tvätta sig - to wash oneself
Resa sig - to get up
Lägga sig - to go to bed
Känna sig - to feel
Gifta sig - to get married
Bestämma sig - to decide
Skynda sig - to hurry

The reflexive pronoun is used when the subject and the object in the clause refer to the same person:

Jag måste lära mig svenska. - I need to learn Swedish.
Hon bestämde sig för att börja träna. - She decided to start training.
Vi gifter oss. - We are getting married.

Possessive Pronouns

SingularPlural
en-wordsett-words
Jagmin (my)mittmina
Dudin (your)dittdina
Honhennes (hers)henneshennes
Hanhans (his)hanshans
Henhens (his/hers)henshens
Den/Detdess (its)dessdess
Vivår (our)vårtvåra
Nier (your)ertera
Dederas (their)derasderas

Possessive pronouns agree with the nouns that they belong to.

Examples:

  1. Det är min katt. - It is my cat. (en katt - a cat)
  2. Huset är ditt. - The house is yours.(ett hus - a house)
  3. Där är mina skor. - There are my shoes. (en sko - one shoe; skor - shoes)

Possessive Pronoun Reflexive Form

In the third person singular and plural, it is important if the ”owner” of the object functions as the subject of the same clause or not.

SingularPlural
en-wordsett-words
han/hon/hensinsittsina
den/det/desinsinsina

Anna frågar varför Eva inte vill dansa med sin pojkvän. (= Evas pojkvän) (”owner”: Eva) - Anna asks why Eva (subject) doesn’t want to dance with Eva’s boyfriend. ← Possessive reflexive (Eva doesn’t want to dance with her own boyfriend)

Anna frågar varför Eva inte vill dansa med hennes pojkvän. (= Annas pojkvän) (”owner”: Anna) - Anna asks why Eva (subject) doesn’t want to dance with Anna’s boyfriend. ← Possessive (Eva doesn’t want to dance with Anna’s boyfriend)

Anna vill dansa med sin pojkvän. - Anna wants to dance with her (own) boyfriend.

Relative Pronoun

The relative pronoun som (that, which) is used as a subordinate clause opener and can refer to both people and things. Som (that, which) can act as both subject and object.

Examples:

  1. Jonas har en dotter. Hon är fyra år. - Jonas has a daughter. She is four years old.→ Jonas har en dotter som är fyra år. (som = subject) - Jonas has a daughter who is four years old.
  2. Jonas har en dotter. Han älskar henne. - Jonas has a daughter. He loves her. →Jonas har en dotter som han älskar. ("som" = object) - Jonas has a daughter who he loves