Possessive pronouns: moj, tvoj, njegov…
Possessives are moj (my), tvoj (your), njegov (his), njen (her), naš (our), vaš (your pl./polite), njihov (their). They agree with the thing owned, not the owner: moj brat, moja sestra, moje dete.
Examples
- moj brat my brother
- moja sestra my sister
- njen muž her husband
The full lesson
Everything in the video, in text.
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A man says “moja sestra” about his sister, not “moj”. Why the feminine form? Because in Serbian the possessive doesn't agree with the owner — it agrees with the thing being owned.
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Possessives tell you whose something is. Here's the full set of seven: moj, tvoj, njegov, njen, naš, vaš and njihov.
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Moj is my, tvoj your, njegov his, njen her, naš our, vaš your, njihov their. Vaš is also the polite form for one person you address formally.
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Now the most important part. In Serbian the possessive agrees in gender with the noun it describes. Not with you, the owner, but with the thing you own.
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The form follows the noun's gender. Masculine stays — moj. Feminine takes -a — moja. Neuter takes -e — moje.
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Let's start. Brat, brother, is masculine, so moj stays in its base form: moj brat
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Sestra, sister, is feminine, so moj becomes moja — even if I'm a man. What matters is the gender of the noun. moja sestra
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And dete, child, is neuter, so moj becomes moje, with an -e ending: moje dete
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Same principle with tvoj. Before the feminine noun knjiga, book, it becomes tvoja. The ending always follows the noun's gender. tvoja knjiga
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Now njegov and njen. Njegov is his — the owner is male. Sin, son, is masculine, so it stays njegov: njegov sin
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Njen is her — the owner is female. But muž, husband, is masculine, so the form is njen: it follows muž, not her. The noun changes the ending, not the owner. njen muž
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And plural owners. With the noun grad, city, which is masculine, you say: naš grad
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Here's the most common mistake. A man thinks “I'm male”, so he says “moj sestra”. But sestra is feminine: it has to be moja sestra. The gender of the noun decides — not you.
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Let's recap. Seven pronouns: moj, tvoj, njegov, njen, naš, vaš, njihov. They all agree with the noun — -a for feminine, -e for neuter. The noun changes the form, not the owner.