Danish Possessives: min, din, sin, hans

Possessives say who something belongs to: my car, her house. Some of them change with the noun, just like adjectives do: min bil, mit hus, mine børn.

Danish also has one that English doesn’t: sin, for “his own”, “her own” or “its own”. English speakers often use hans or hendes where Danish needs sin.

All the forms

Only min, din and sin change with the noun. The rest look the same whatever comes after them.

Owner	en-word	et-word	Plural	English
jeg	min	mit	mine	my
du	din	dit	dine	your
han	hans	hans	hans	his
hun	hendes	hendes	hendes	her
den	dens	dens	dens	its
det	dets	dets	dets	its
vi	vores	vores	vores	our
I	jeres	jeres	jeres	your (you all)
de	deres	deres	deres	their
his / her / its own	sin	sit	sine	see sin or hans

min, mit or mine?

The form follows the thing that is owned, not the owner: min with en-words, mit with et-words, mine with plurals. The noun after it never takes the “the” ending. en or et?

Danish	English	Why
min bil	my car	bil is an en-word
mit hus	my house	hus is an et-word
mine børn	my children	plural

sin or hans?

Use sin (sit, sine) when the owner is the subject of the same clause and is han, hun, den, det, a name or a singular noun: he kisses his own wife. Use hans or hendes when the owner is someone else.

sinPeter kysser sin kone.Peter kisses his (own) wife.
hansPeter kysser hans kone.Peter kisses his (another man’s) wife.

Danish	English	Whose?
Maria ringer til sin mor.	Maria calls her (own) mother.	Maria’s: she is the subject
Maria ringer til hendes mor.	Maria calls her mother.	another woman’s
Han vasker sin bil.	He washes his car.	his own
Hun henter sine børn.	She picks up her children.	her own (plural: sine)
De sælger deres hus.	They sell their house.	their own: with de, always deres

Peters bil: names and nouns

To say Peter’s car, add -s with no apostrophe: Peters bil, Danmarks hovedstad (Denmark’s capital). It works on ordinary nouns too, usually in their “the” form: bilens farve (the car’s colour). Only a word that already ends in s, x or z takes an apostrophe instead: Anders’ bil. As after min, the noun that follows has no “the” ending: Peters bil, not Peters bilen.

You’ll also hear: bilen min

In everyday speech, Danes often put the possessive after the noun, and then the noun does take its “the” ending: bilen min, huset mit. It means the same as min bil, just more casual. In writing and at the exam, min bil is the safe choice.

Common mistakes

Wrong:~~min bilen~~
Right:min bil
After a possessive, the noun has no “the” ending.
Wrong:~~min hus~~
Right:mit hus
Hus is an et-word, so it’s mit.
Wrong:~~Jeg vasker sin bil.~~
Right:Jeg vasker min bil.
Sin only points back to a third-person subject like han, hun or a name. With jeg, use min.
Wrong:~~Sin kone er sød.~~
Right:Hans kone er sød.
Sin can’t be part of the subject.
Wrong:~~De vasker sin bil.~~
Right:De vasker deres bil.
With de (they), use deres.
Wrong:~~Peter’s bil~~
Right:Peters bil
Danish adds -s with no apostrophe.

Try it

Try itTest yourself on sin vs hans

Check yourself

6 questions

1. “my house”

2. “my car”

3. “Peter calls his (own) mother.”

4. “Her book is on the table.”

5. “They sell their house.”

6. “Peter’s car”

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