Possessive constructions in Norwegian

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The notion Possessive construction here subsumes constructions with possessive pronouns, and with NPs with an -s attached at the end (without apostrophe). We describe these in turn.

 hans ('his'),
 hennes ('her'), 
 dens ('its'), when the noun for the possessor is masculine or feminine gender, 
 dets ('its'), when the noun for the possessor is neuter gender, 
 dennes ('this one's'), when the noun for the possessor is masculine or feminine gender,
 dettes ('that one's'), when the noun for the possessor is neuter gender, 
 deres (your', plural), when the possessor is second person (the ones talked to), 
       OR
        ('their', plural), when the possessor is third person (what is talked about).

Pattern 2 is constituted by

 min ('my'), when the possessor is first person singular,
 din ('your') when the possessor is second person singular,
 sin (reflexive 'his', 'her') when the possessor is third person singular,

and these forms inflect as follows reflecting the noun for the item possessed:

when the noun for the item possessed is a masculine singular noun:  min,  din,  sin
when the noun for the item possessed is a feminine singular noun: mi,  di,  si
when the noun for the item possessed is a neuter singular noun: mitt, ditt, sitt
when the noun for the item possessed is a plural noun, any gender: mine, dine, sine

Pattern 3 has one item, vår ('our'), for first person plural, which has the pattern: .

when the noun for the item possessed is a masculine singular noun:  vår
when the noun for the item possessed is a feminine singular noun: vår
when the noun for the item possessed is a neuter singular noun: vårt
when the noun for the item possessed is a plural noun, any gender: våre

Constructions using possessive pronouns

1. 'Possessive pronouns occurring before the noun

Possessive pronouns occupy the position otherwise held by the definite article, and they may be said to induce a definiteness effect in that they require the weak form of the adjective. Contrary to the definite article, however, the ensuing noun has to be in indefinite form.

In the display below (here PNposs stands for the word class 'possessive pronoun', which mine belongs to), note that when the first example includes

min	e
1sg	PL
PNposs

where 'sg' means 'singular' and 'PL' means 'plural', this is no contradiction: the non-colored '1sg' expresses that the item referred to is the speaker, and a single person, whereas 'PL' in blue-colored script means that mine stands in an agreement relation to a plural noun:

mine griser

mine
min	e
1sg	PL
PNposs

griser
gris	er
pig	PLMASCINDEF
N

mine tre små griser

mine
min	e
1sg	PL
PNposs

tre

three

NUM

små

smallPL

ADJ

griser
gris	er
pig	PLMASCINDEF
N

min glade gris

min

1sgSG

PNposs

glade
glad	e
glad	DEF
ADJ

gris

pig

N

In general, the 'blue' items reflect properties of grammatical form, and the 'green' items are word classes ('parts of speech' - POS), whereas the non-colored parts expose meaning and the spelled form. When in the description of the word min in the last example, meaning and blue stand together as follows,

1sgSG

that is because the form min is not split in two parts (morphs) where one gives the meaning '1sg' and the other the grammatical form 'singular' - here the form min counts by itself as an expression both of the meaning 'speaker, singular' and of the grammatical property 'singular', and in such a case the two symbols stand without space between them.

The same principle applies in the annotation of the noun griser

griser
gris	er
pig	PL.MASC.INDEF
N

where in this case the inflection morph er contains all of the information plural, masculine and indefinite, symbolised by the blue expressions PL, MASC, and INDEF, separated only by a dot (which may not be visible).

'2. 'Possessive pronouns occurring after the noun

For possessive pronouns, another position of occurrence is immediately after the noun, which then has to be in definite form:

grisen min

grisen
gris	en
pig	DEFMASCSG
N

min

1sgSG

PNposs

den glade grisen min

den

DEFMASCSG

DET

glade
glad	e
glad	DEF
ADJ

grisen
gris	en
pig	DEFMASCSG
N

min

1sgSG

PNposs

3. Possessive pronoun occurring behind a possessor NP, and before the noun

This construction is illustrated below: a full NP comes first, then the third person reflexive possessive pronoun, and then the 'possessed' noun.

Ola sin gris

Ola

ola

Ola

Np

sin

hisREFLSGMASC

TRUNC

gris

pig

N

Possessive NPs with -s or with a preposition

The first example shows a proper name with the -s attached, preceding the 'possessed' noun. Notice that there is no apostrophe between the proper name and the -s:

Olas gris

Olas
ola	s
	POSS
Np

gris

pig

N

The next example shows the same pattern, but now with a whole noun phrase preceding the -s; the -s simply attaches to the last word of the noun phrase, no matter what it happens to be:

den fattige bondens gris

den

DEFMASCSG

DET

fattige
fattig	e
poor	DEF
ADJ

bondens
bonde	n	s
farmer	DEFMASCSG	POSS
N

gris

pig

N

The following example shows that once one is using this pattern, an adjective between the possessive NP and the possessed noun must be in definite form, whereas the possessed noun has no definite article attached; this is like in the first pattern with possessive pronouns:

Olas glade gris

Olas
ola	s
	POSS
Np

glade
glad	e
glad	DEF
ADJ

gris

pig

N

The last example illustrates a pattern where the possessive noun phrase follows a preposition, this prepositional phrase following the 'possessed' noun. If an article and adjective is used, they must be in definite form.

Den glade grisen til Ola

den

DEFMASCSG

DET