Talk:свой

Subject is the I, you, he, she? Mallerd 23:53, 12 November 2007 (UTC)

When I is the subject, свой means my; when you is the subject, свой means your; when he is the subject, свой means his; and when she is the subject, свой means her. —Stephen 00:20, 13 November 2007 (UTC)

Wait, I don't understand. Subject is in Dutch onderwerp and object is in Dutch lijdend voorwerp. It seems to me that свой changes according to the object, since in the sentences,

Он курит свою сигару (his own)

Он курит его сигару (the other guy’s),

the subject remains the same but the object does change and свой changes too. Please elaborate. Mallerd 20:09, 13 November 2007 (UTC)

No, свой does not change. It can only refer to the subject (that which governs the verb), and it means that the subject of the verb is the owner of the object. When the object is owned by OTHER than the subject, as in "the other guy’s", then you cannot use свой...then you must use его. In opposition to свой, его can never refer to the subject of the verb. So, if the subject owns the object, then use свой; but if the object is owned by OTHER than the subject, then use мой, твой, его, её, наш, ваш, их. (Actually in the case of the first person only, you may use either мой or свой when the subject owns the object, but still only мой when the owner is not the subject). —Stephen 15:00, 14 November 2007 (UTC)

That is, unless you are talking about something different. If you are talking about number, gender and case concordance, then the answer is yes, свой changes according to the object, agreeing with it in number, gender, and case. —Stephen 15:04, 14 November 2007 (UTC)

and it means that the subject of the verb is the owner of the object.

Thank you very much. I understand now. Mallerd 21:21, 14 November 2007 (UTC)

Russian: Determiner vs. Pronoun

The Russian section offers `Pronoun` as the only part of speech. However, all of the example currently listed reflect usage of the word as a determiner.

e.g.ː Я курю́ свою́ сига́ру.

Examples of this word as a determiner would look like thisː

Опя́ть за своё?