Personernas

Personernas is a Swedish genitive form used to indicate possession by the plural definite noun the people. It translates roughly as "the people’s" or "of the people." The word is formed from the plural noun personer (people), whose definite plural is personerna (the people). The possessive suffix -s is then added to the definite plural to yield personernas, as in the phrase personernas rättigheter (the rights of the people).

Formation and usage details

In Swedish, possession is shown by adding the suffix -s to a noun. For plural forms that end in -er, the possessive attaches to the definite plural, producing form like personernas. This is used when referring to possessions or attributes belonging to a group of people. Examples include personernas åsikter (the people’s views), personernas behov (the people’s needs), and personernas rättigheter (the people’s rights). For singular possession, the form would be personens (the person’s).

Relation to other forms

Personernas contrasts with personens, which denotes possession by a single person (the person’s). The base noun person can also appear in unstressed or indefinite contexts, but the possessive forms follow the standard Swedish rule of adding -s to indicate ownership, with personernas specifically marking possession by a plural-formed group.

See also

Genitive (Swedish), possessive suffix -s, Swedish grammar.