Amharic to Norwegian Bokmål: decide whether the owner is the subject
His or her is not enough to select every possessive
Amharic possessive suffixes distinguish person and, in some forms, the owner’s gender. Norwegian Bokmål adds a different question in third-person possession: does the possession belong to the subject of the clause? The reflexive series sin, si, sitt, sine refers back to that subject. Hans and hennes can identify a male or female owner elsewhere. The correct target choice therefore depends on the sentence relationship, not only on the source suffix’s gender.
The contrast between huset sitt and huset hennes illustrates own house versus her house in an appropriate third-person clause. The first can belong to a male or a female subject; the second identifies a female owner without asserting that she is the clause’s subject. For an Amharic account in which one woman visits another woman’s home, establish whose home it is before checking the Norwegian possessive. Using a reflexive merely because both participants are women could assign the house to the visitor.
The possessed noun controls some endings
Amharic puts owner information on the noun itself. Bokmål often places a possessive after a definite noun, with some possessive forms agreeing with the noun’s gender and number. Huset mitt means my house, while bøkene mine means my books. The difference between mitt and mine concerns the possessions, not a change from one speaker to several speakers.
An Amharic inventory may identify the same owner repeatedly while listing different kinds and numbers of objects. Expect the Norwegian possessive forms to vary accordingly. Conversely, a plural-looking target ending should not lead a checker to invent several owners. Keep three decisions separate: who owns the item, whether there is one owner or a group, and how many items are owned. A source suffix and a target possessive can encode these relationships through different combinations of forms without disagreeing about the underlying facts.
A definite suffix is not automatically an owner
Amharic definite and third-person possessive marking can be identical in some forms. The research example mekina-w can mean the car or his car, with the sentence context resolving the interpretation. Bokmål also uses definite noun endings, but that resemblance does not identify the function of the Amharic source ending. Interpret the source before deciding whether the Norwegian phrase needs an owner expression at all.
This is useful in a repair note referring to a vehicle already discussed. A known vehicle is not necessarily somebody’s vehicle in the possessive sense asserted by the sentence. If the Amharic text really identifies an owner, preserve that relationship; if it merely marks definiteness, do not add a male possessor. Carry the preceding reference into the translation so the choice can be resolved. Checking only that a definite target noun appears would miss an omitted ownership distinction, while checking for a possessive everywhere would create unsupported ownership claims.
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