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What's the difference between 'swoje' & 'moje'?


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ZiemowitThreads: 10
Posts: 1,063
Joined: May 8, 09 		Edited by: Ziemowit   Nov 10, 09, 11:01 /  #
SzwedwPolsce:
a.) On kocha swoją żonę.
b.) On kocha jego żonę.

Well, the essential truth about "swój" is that it can be replaced (in certain sentences) by a respective possessive pronoun except for the third person of both singular and plural.

Ja kocham swoją [moją] żonę.
Ty kochasz swoją [twoją] żonę.
On kocha swoją [----] żonę. (On kocha jego żonę means something different.)

My kochamy swoje [nasze] żony.
Wy kochacie swoje [wasze] żony.
Oni kochają swoje [----] żony. (Oni kochają ich żony means something different.)

The "his" in an English out-of-context sentence "He loves his wife" would certainly mean "swoją". Of course, there may exist a context to the sentence which would make this "his" mean "jego" (in the sense: He loves his friend's wife). Thus, for the third person, the English his/her would mean either "swoją/swojego" or "jego/jej" in Polish.
FUZZYWICKETSThreads: 12
Posts: 1,996
Joined: Nov 3, 09 		  Nov 11, 09, 12:09 /  #
besides the his/her example which has a different meaning like you were saying, could you provide some examples where "swoj" is absolutely required, and "moj" would be incorrect?
Lyzko   Nov 11, 09, 13:52 /  #
"Han tog SIN hat och gick SIN vag." imot "Han tog HANS hat och gick HANS vag."

In the first sentence (learnt by all Swedes as well as foreigners such as myself studying Swedish!), "He took his hat and went on his merry way." makes perfect sense. The second, literally, "He took someone else's hat and went on someone else's merry way." sounds quite amusing in Swedish, come to think of it, in Danish and Norwegian too.-:)

I think the analogy between Polish 'swój', 'swoja', 'swoje' and Swedish 'sin', 'sitt', 'sina' is abundantly clear at this point. LOL
gumishuThreads: 17
Posts: 3,943
Joined: Apr 6, 09  Pictures: 1 		  Nov 11, 09, 14:34 /  #
SzwedwPolsce:
a.) On kocha swoją żonę.
b.) On kocha jego żonę.

and in the end they both love the same woman ;)
SzwedwPolsceThreads: 13
Posts: 1,915
Joined: Feb 21, 09 		Edited by: SzwedwPolsce   Nov 11, 09, 15:28 /  #
Ziemowit:
Well, the essential truth about "swój" is that it can be replaced (in certain sentences) by a respective possessive pronoun except for the third person of both singular and plural.

Exactly this is also true about my native language, but I've never thought about it. And it is a situation where people should be careful, because it's easy to make this mistake if you don't think. But if you consider swój as my own, your own, his own etc. it's not a problem.

Lyzko:
I think the analogy between Polish 'swój', 'swoja', 'swoje' and Swedish 'sin', 'sitt', 'sina' is abundantly clear at this point.

Yes.

gumishu:
and in the end they both love the same woman ;)

A drama of three.. hehe. :)
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