Zvratné přivlastňování

"One's own": the reflexive possessive ending

English "his" or "her" can point to the subject or to someone else. Mongolian has a special ending for "belonging to the subject": -аа / -ээ / -оо / -өө, by vowel harmony. It replaces a possessive word like миний (my) or түүний (his).

Mongolian	English
Би гэртээ байна.	I'm at (my own) home.
Тэр гэртээ байна.	She's at her (own) home.
Тэр номоо авна.	He takes his (own) book.
Бид гэрээ цэвэрлэнэ.	We clean our (own) home.
Аавдаа захидал бичлээ.	I wrote a letter to my dad.

Where it goes

The ending comes after any case ending: гэр (home) + -т (at) + -ээ = гэртээ; найз + -тай (with) + -гаа = найзтайгаа (with one's friend). With a direct object it usually takes the place of the accusative for things (номоо, one's book), while people tend to keep it (ээжийгээ, one's mother). After a long vowel or diphthong, г is inserted: дүүгээ (one's younger sibling).

Same subject, same ending

Because the owner is the subject, the ending is the same for "my", "your", "his", "our": Би номоо авсан (I took my book), Чи номоо авсан уу? (Did you take your book?).

Contrast

• Бат гэртээ байна. - Bat is at his own home.
• Бат түүний гэрт байна. - Bat is at his (someone else's) home.

During Tsagaan Sar everyone goes аав ээж дээрээ, "to their own parents' place", first. English speakers use миний or түүний by reflex; it is not wrong in every sentence, but when the owner is the subject, the ending is what Mongolians say.