"his, her, its" in seven languages
Meaninghis, her, its
Spanish
/su/
inherited
Also 'your' (of usted) and 'their': su casa can be anyone's. De él / de ella clears it up.
French
/sɔ̃/
inherited
fem.: sa
Sa mère is 'his mother' or 'her mother': the gender is the mother's.
Italian
/ˈsuo/
inherited
fem.: sua
Portuguese
/ˈdeli/
other source · de + ele 'of him' (Latin DĒ + ILLE)
Dela 'of her' follows the owner, as in English: a mãe dele, a mãe dela. Seu exists but now sounds like 'your'.
Romanian
/səw/
inherited
fem.: sa
Speech prefers lui 'his' and ei 'her' after the noun: mama lui, mama ei.
Catalan
/sew/
inherited
fem.: seva
With the article: la seva mare.
English
/hɪz hɝ/
native English · Old English his, hiere
The Latin ancestor
SUUM‘his, her, its own’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
English his / her follows the owner; the sisters follow the thing owned, so son père is 'his father' or 'her father' and sa mère 'his mother' or 'her mother'. Where that got too vague, Portuguese and Romanian speech switched to 'of him / of her' (dele, dela; lui, ei).
Learn it
In a sentence
- esConozco a su madre.
- frJe connais sa mère.
- itConosco sua madre.
- ptConheço a mãe dele.
- roO cunosc pe mama lui.
- caConec la seva mare.
- enI know his mother.