In Macedonian, the adjectives 'my own', 'your own', 'his own', 'her own', 'its own' etc. are expressed with the same adjective as 'one's own.' Like almost all adjectives in Macedonian, this adjective also has several forms based on the gender and number of the object it is describing:
If the object is...
(see below) |
the appropriate form of one's own is ...
(see below) |
| masculine |
свој |
| feminine |
своја |
| neuter |
свое |
| plural |
свои |
There are two uses for this Macedonian adjective:
1. when the clause also contains one of the following: секој, секоја, секое, секои (every, each), сè (everything, all), сите (everyone, all), the use is obligatory. For example:
- Секое прашање има свој одговор. Every question has its own answer.
2. when the subject of the clause is a specific person or a personal pronoun (јас, ти, тој, таа, тоа, ние, вие, тие), the use depends on the context, as the sentence may be expressing something about one's own object as well as someone else's. Consider the examples:
- Јас живеам во своја куќа. I live in my own house.
- Јас живеам во моја куќа. I live in my house.
- Тој живее во своја куќа. He lives in his own house.
- Тој живее во негова куќа. He lives in his (someone else's) house.