# Icelandic: genitive pronoun vs. possessive adjective



## Gavril

Sæl,

What determines whether you use the genitive form of a pronoun -- _mín_, _þín_, etc. -- or the corresponding possessive adjective -- _minn, þinn, sinn_ etc.?

For example,

_
Togarinn *minn/mín* er tuttugu metra langur._

_Þetta hús er *mín/mitt.*_


I can't remember if this was discussed here before (I did do some searching), but if it has, feel free to close this thread.

Takk


----------



## myšlenka

Hi,
I think the answer lies in the terminology itself. The genitive _pronouns_ are probably complete noun phrases by themselves whereas the possessive _adjectives_ are simply adjectives, e.g. part of a noun phrase.

The genitive is governed by certain verbs and prepositions so that's why you get:
1) Komðu til _mín_!
2) Ég saknar _hennar_.

The possessive adjectives agree with the gender, case and number of the noun in question.
3) Togarinn _minn_ er tuttugu metra langur.
4) Þetta hús er _mitt_.


----------



## Gavril

Hi myšlenka,

I was wondering specifically about which to use (genitive pronoun or possessive adjective) when modifying a noun. Sorry for not making that clearer.

It's clear that possessive adjectives can be used to modify nouns, but I think I've seen genitive pronouns used as well. I even recall writing a sentence on WR that contained a possessive adjective form like *þinni*, and an Icelandic speaker correcting this to the pronominal form *þín* -- but I may be misremembering.


----------



## Alxmrphi

There is this thread, but what happened there was the other way around i.e. you used þín but it was corrected to þínum.
Is that the thread you were wondering about? I only had a quick look though, didn't see any others it could have been.


----------



## Gavril

Alxmrphi said:


> There is this thread, but what happened there was the other way around i.e. you used þín but it was corrected to þínum.
> Is that the thread you were wondering about?



I'm not sure. I notice that I used pronominal _þín_ in a few other sentences on that thread (where a possessive adjective would have had a different case form) and NMMIG didn't correct them.

I did a search for the phrase "bróðir mín" to see how common it was, and I haven't found many non-Faroese examples yet, but I did find the sentence (written by an Icelandic speaker),




> Til hamingju með afmælið bróðir mín!!!



Is there a contextual reason for using _mín_ here?


----------



## NoMoreMrIceGuy

Gavril said:


> I'm not sure. I notice that I used pronominal _þín_ in a few other sentences on that thread (where a possessive adjective would have had a different case form) and NMMIG didn't correct them.
> 
> I did a search for the phrase "bróðir mín" to see how common it was, and I haven't found many non-Faroese examples yet, but I did find the sentence (written by an Icelandic speaker),
> 
> Is there a contextual reason for using _mín_ here?



My bad. I forgot to fix this one:

_Ef þú annast ekki tannhirðu þína, munu tennur þínar verða rotnar._

The most likely explanation being that I'm not sure _tannhirða_ is used that way. I would be more inclined to say _Ef þú hirðir ekki um tennur þínar_... or _Ef þú stundar ekki góða tannhirðu_... I'm not sure that you _annast_ _tannhirðu_.


----------



## Gavril

NoMoreMrIceGuy said:


> My bad. I forgot to fix this one:
> 
> _Ef þú annast ekki tannhirðu þína, munu tennur þínar verða rotnar._
> 
> The most likely explanation being that I'm not sure _tannhirða_ is used that way.


 
It doesn't seem to be a very common phrase, but I did find a page with the sentence, "Börn geta ekki annast tannhirðu sjálf fyrr en um tíu ára aldur".

What about the sentence I quoted with _bróðir mín_ ("Til hamingju með afmælið bróðir mín") -- why do you think _mín_ is used here rather than _minn_?

Takk


----------



## Alxmrphi

> What about the sentence I quoted with _bróðir mín _("Til hamingju með afmælið bróðir mín") -- why do you think mín is used here rather than minn?


That Tweet wasn't from an Icelander.
She's a Cebuano speaker living in Iceland. A mistake, I'm guessing.


----------



## Gavril

Alxmrphi said:


> That Tweet wasn't from an Icelander.
> She's a Cebuano speaker living in Iceland. A mistake, I'm guessing.



I wondered why the poster had such an un-Icelandic name (though people use all sorts of handles online and not all of them match their nationality).

I did a little more searching and found some examples of "bróðir min" with unaccented "i", but very few with accented "mín".


----------



## Gavril

I'm going to rephrase my question, because I don't think I put it clearly enough:

1. Is it appropriate to use a genitive pronoun after a noun when a possessive adjective is also available? (E.g., _Togarinn *mín* er tuttugu metra langur.__)_

2. Can you use a genitive pronoun, rather than a possessive adjective, after the verb _vera_? (E.g., _Þetta hús er *mín.*_)

Takk


----------



## Silver_Biscuit

1. No.
2. No.


----------

