Possession With a To-Someone Pronoun

The owner on the verb. English says "He took my book". Macedonian can say Ми ја зеде книгата, literally "to me he took the book". The short pronoun names the owner, and the article on книгата shows which book.

Building it.

• the owner: ми, ти, му, ѝ, ни, ви, им, as in short to-someone pronouns
• the owned thing with its article: книгата, носот, колата
• if that thing is the object, the matching го, ја or ги after the owner pronoun: ми го, му ја, ни ги (see two short pronouns together)

You can also name the owner with на: Весна му ја расипа колата на Стефан. (Vesna broke Stefan's car.)

When Macedonian prefers it. This pattern tells the story from the owner's side: the owner is hurt, upset or inconvenienced. It is very common with body parts, clothes and personal things: Ѝ ја бакна раката. (He kissed her hand.) Кучето ми ги скина патиките. (The dog tore up my sneakers.) Ја зеде мојата книга is also correct, but it puts the focus on the book, for example to contrast it with someone else's.

Not after the noun. A short pronoun after a noun shows possession only with close family words, as in мајка ми. With other nouns, the owner pronoun goes before the verb: Ми ја зеде книгата, not книгата ми.

Your own things. When the owner is the subject, use си: Си ја изми косата. (She washed her hair.) With body parts, the article alone is often enough: Го повредив окото. (I hurt my eye.) See the reflexive си. For things that simply happen to someone, see ми се скрши.