Old Norse/Pronouns

In this chapter, the following concepts are explained:


 * personal pronouns and declension
 * the reflexive pronoun
 * possessive pronouns
 * demonstrative pronouns and declension

It is important to point out that in Old Norse, the indication of possession is not made using the genitive forms of pronouns but rather with possessive pronouns.

Personal pronouns and declension
In Old Norse, there were duals - personal pronouns used to refer to two things.

There were only two dual personal pronouns: the first person dual vit and the second person dual þit. These two duals were used like English "we" and "you" to refer to two people, thus can be translated into English "we two" and "you two".

First person pronouns
There were three first person pronouns, whose nominative forms were ek, vit and vér.

Second person pronouns
There were three second person pronouns, whose nominative forms were þú, (þ)it and (þ)ér.

Third person pronouns
The genders of a pronoun must match with that of the object the pronoun refers to.

Along with the reflexive possessive pronoun sinn, the genitive forms of the third person pronouns hans, hennar, þess, þeir(r)a are used to express possession in the third person.

The reflexive pronoun
The reflexive pronoun is used to refer to the subject of a verb.

When a third person pronoun is used in a sentence where the subject is also in the third person, the reflexive pronoun comes into use as the speaker must clarify whether the pronoun refers to another thing or the subject itself. Consider the following English sentences:

Olaf killed his dog.

It is unclear whether Olaf killed his own dog or killed some other man's dog. In Old Norse, the former is meant by using a reflexive pronoun instead of a third person pronoun:


 * Óláfr drap hund sinn. Olaf killed his own dog.
 * Óláfr drap hund hans. Olaf killed some other man's dog.

The usage of the genitive form sín must not be confused with that of the reflexive possessive pronoun sinn.

Possessive pronouns
Possessive pronouns decline like strong adjectives with one different ending -n in the masculine accusative singular.

First person pronouns
There were three first person possessive pronouns: minn "my", okkarr "our (dual)" and várr "our (plural)".

In the declension of minn, a short -i- appears before a doubled consonant, elsewhere the long -í- appears.

Okkarr follows the rule of syncope, i.e. the vowel in its second syllable is reduced when the ending contains a vowel.

Second person pronouns
There were three second person possessive pronouns: þinn "your", ykkarr "your (dual)" and yð(v)arr "your (plural)".

Reflexive possessive pronoun sinn
The reflexive possessive pronoun sinn is used when the noun in possession is possessed by the same noun, which was referred to in the third person previously. Otherwise, the genitive form a third personal pronoun is used to indicate possession. Consider the following sentences, and notice how sinn declines by the case and number of fjándi "foe":


 * Óláfr sló sína fjánda. Olaf slayed his own foemen.
 * Óláfr sló hans fjánda. Olaf slayed some other one's foemen.