18.4 - Possessive pronouns
Possessive pronouns indicate whose something is or whom it belongs to. Most of these (мій, твій, свій, наш, ваш, їхній) have the form of adjectives, so their full declension was shown in the unit dealing with adjectives, on page 17.4.
The possessive 3rd person singular (his, her(s), its) do not have the form of adjectives; the genitives of the pronouns він, вона, воно are used:
| його машина | his car |
| його лапи і мокрий ніс | its paws and wet nose |
| її офіс | her office |
Regarding the 3rd person plural, their(s), two forms exist, the adjectival form їхній, and the genitive of the pronoun вони:
| Це - їх(ній) дім? Їхній. | Is this their house? (Yes, it's) theirs. |
N.B. When it is clear from the context whose possession is being referred to, the possessive pronoun is normally omitted:
| Як мається брат? | How is (your) brother? (Here твій/ваш is omitted as it is obvious that it is the listener's brother who is being referred to.) |
As mentioned on pages 17.3 and 18.2, the reflexive pronouns (себе, свій etc.) need to be used when the action refers back to the doer. These pronouns combine easily with other parts of speech to produce new words. Try Exercise 18.4A to see if you can work out their meanings, then learn them (most are useful words to know).