његов / њен / њихов

His Her and Their

Level 1Sounds Like n̂egov; n̂en; n̂ihov

Use његов for his/its, њен for her, and њихов for their. The base stem indicates who owns the item, while the grammatical ending changes to match the gender, number, and case of the item being possessed.

How It Works

To express third-person possession in Serbian, select the base word matching the owner:

  • његов = his / its (referring back to он or оно)
  • њен = her / hers (referring back to она; the doublet њезин is also fully standard and normative, though њен is more frequent in everyday speech in Serbia)
  • њихов = their / theirs (referring back to они, оне, or она)

Adjective Agreement:
Just like descriptive adjectives, these words must agree with the possessed noun in gender, number, and case:

  • Masculine singular: његов ауто (his car), њен брат (her brother), њихов стан (their apartment)
  • Feminine singular: његова кућа (his house), њена сестра (her sister), њихова соба (their room)
  • Neuter singular: његово дете (his child), њено село (her village), њихово писмо (their letter)
  • Masculine plural (-и): његови пријатељи (his friends)
  • Feminine plural (-е): њене књиге (her books)
  • Neuter plural (-а): њихова писма (their letters), њихова села (their villages)

Case Endings:
They follow standard pronominal adjective endings. For example, in the feminine accusative singular, -у is added: Видим њену сестру (I see her sister). In masculine accusative singular, remember the rule for animate and inanimate objects: Познајем његовог оца (animate: -ог) vs. Возим његов ауто (inanimate: bare form).

Contrast with свој:
Serbian distinguishes whether the possessor is the subject of the clause or someone else:
1. In the subject itself (nominative): Always use његов, њен, or њихов, never свој:
• Његова мајка ради овде. = His mother works here.
• Њихов син студира у Београду. = Their son studies in Belgrade.

2. When referring back to the subject of the same clause: Use свој whenever the possessor is the subject across any non-subject position (direct objects, prepositional phrases, indirect objects, etc.):
• Марко воли своју жену. = Marko loves his [own] wife.
• Марко воли његову жену. = Marko loves his [another man's] wife.
• Ана разговара са својим братом. = Ana is talking with her [own] brother (prepositional phrase).
• Они воле своје родитеље. = They love their [own] parents.

Examples (4)

  1. То је његов нови аутомобил.

    That is his new car.

    Word by Word: That is his new car.

    The owner is male (његов), modifying a masculine singular noun in the nominative case (аутомобил).

  2. Да ли познајеш њену сестру?

    Do you know her sister?

    Word by Word: Whether you know her sister?

    The owner is female (њен), taking the feminine accusative singular ending -у to agree with сестру.

  3. Њихови родитељи живе у Београду.

    Their parents live in Belgrade.

    Word by Word: Their parents live in Belgrade.

    The owners are plural (њихов), taking the masculine plural nominative ending -и to agree with родитељи.

  4. Ово је њено омиљено место.

    This is her favorite place.

    Word by Word: This is her favorite place.

    The owner is female (њен), taking the neuter nominative ending -о to agree with место.

Common Mistakes

  • Using 'његова' when you mean 'her mother'.

    Different Meaningњегова мама
    њена мама

    Learners often see -а on 'његова' and think it means 'her'. In fact, the stem 'његов-' always means 'his', and the ending '-а' simply matches the feminine gender of 'мама' (his mother). To say 'her mother', use the feminine owner stem 'њен-': 'њена мама'.

  • Using његов/њен/њихов for something that belongs to the subject.

    Different MeaningОн је понео његову јакну.
    Он је понео своју јакну.

    'Он је понео његову јакну' is correct, but it means he took another man's jacket. When the subject owns the object, Serbian uses the reflexive possessive 'свој': 'Он је понео своју јакну.'

  • Failing to inflect the possessive adjective for case.

    Живим у његов кућа.
    Живим у његовој кући.

    Possessive pronouns must decline along with the noun. In the locative case after 'у', the feminine ending '-ој' is required.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

његов / њен / њиховLevel 1His Her and Their

Learn This First

Before using third-person possessives ('његов', 'њен', 'њихов'), learners need to understand noun genders and how possessive determiners decline to agree with the item owned, which is first introduced with 'мој', 'твој', and 'наш'.

Words in This Pattern

његовњенњихов