(no subject)

[wolfie-18.livejournal.com]

In what situations would you choose "свой" over "его/мой/твой" so on and so forth?

Comments

it's simple

[kill-illusions.livejournal.com]

"его" = his
"твой" = yours
"свой", "мой" = mine, but "свой" already means "my own"

[nadyezhda.livejournal.com]

I think it's when you mean to stress one's own: when the possessor is the subject of the sentence. U nikh svaya mashina, they have their own car.

[ex-evengar540.livejournal.com]

У них своя машина — they've their own car
У них моя машина — they've my car!
У них есть их машина — and they have their car (for example: "А ведь у них есть их машина!")

[giantantattack.livejournal.com]

I was taught that "свой" is used in place of "мой", "твой", "его", etc. when it refers to something being possessed by the subject of the sentence. For example,

"Елена идёт с Лизой и своей собакой."
and
"Елена идёт с Лизой и её собакой."

In English, both of the sentences would translate to "Elena is walking with Liza and her dog." It's hard to tell to whom the dog belongs. But, in Russian, the first sentence says that the dog is Elena's because it uses "свой" and Elena is the subject, whereas the second sentence say that the dog is Liza's because it uses "её" and Liza is not the subject.

I hope this makes sense.

[nadyezhda.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, a good example. I will remember that one!

[missa-gorightry.livejournal.com]

I remember in our first year textbook, this topic was taught with examples that went something like:

Иван любит его жену. ~~ Ivan loves his (someone else's) wife
Иван любит свою жену. ~~ Ivan loves his own wife.

And then it was illustrated with a picture of a guy ogling another woman in front of his wife.

Sad social commentary, but a good illustration of the idea.

[devinshire.livejournal.com]

Was that in Начало? I used that as a first year text and I remember something like that in there.

[missa-gorightry.livejournal.com]

Yes! I loved that text, with all the drama... Little boys and dogs stuck in elevators, German guys at the wrong bus stops. Good times.

[ex-yandex-ru640.livejournal.com]

a very good example!

I think, it is also very important to remember, than in Russian it is almost impossible to say "I drive my car", or something like this. When it is necessary to say, that you drive YOUR OWN car, you should say "я еду на своей машине".

also, sentences like "I eat my breakfast" and so on don`t need a pronoun "my" (or "your", "her" and so on): "я ем завтрак", or, much better - "я завтракаю".

[nodarius.livejournal.com]

Exactly! It's like in famous translators joke, where "he raised his hand" is translated as "он поднял свою руку", as if there were several hands, "he" chose his own and lifted it

[ex-yandex-ru640.livejournal.com]

yap, if I try to imagine, what should a situation "он поднял свою руку" look like, I could only imagine a soldier, who lost his hand in attack, after an explosion of a grenade, and now he takes his hand, that lies on earth, very bloody, and lifts it and looks at it with crazy eyes :((((

[nodarius.livejournal.com]

Don't imagine :)